Went to a Halloween party last night with my girls. They loved the trunk or treating (trick or treating in the parking lot out of everyone's cars), and the costume parade where each kid took a turn walking across the stage and twirling around for everyone to see their costumes. I hate to brag but my girls got the most applause. Peyton was probably the littlest one there that actually walked across and they were playing "Monster Mash" and she started boogeying in the middle of the stage. Most kids were too embarassed to stop and twirl but Shelby marched right out to the center of the stage smiled and twirled about three times with her arms straight out at her sides. It was great.

Pumpkin patch on Wednesday, girls were so cute.
Peyton kept squatting down next to the hugest pumpkins and grunting trying to lift them. Shelby was on a quest to find the "smallest pumkin in the whole wide world" They were just adorable running around and pulling the little wagons. I LOVE FALL!

Getting it down so I don't forget:
Shelby's first words: Zeus: Shoos(our dog) and Shoes : Shoos
Peyton's first words: Cow : Caaooo and Popcorn : Copcarn

Goal for this morning was to complete 2 chapters of reading for my psych class and do an online quiz. It's 1:00 and so far I've cleaned pee off of the floor, a stuffed horsey, and a woobie. Changed Shelby's clothes three times for "accidents" washed my bedding because an entire glass of milk was spilled on it. And cleaned up a flood in the bathroom from giving Barbie a bath in the sink. Seriously?

My growing girls

My Pey Pey and my Sho Sho. Here are a few pics of what they were up to in January. Peyton sitting in her little Bumbo chair on the bathroom counter while I get ready in the morning smiling her awesome little grin and growling like a grizzly bear.


Shelby at Gymnastics which she absolutely loves and does such a great job at. She is such an independent little spirit. She listens to her teacher, but definetely has her own ideas about how to do things. It was a parent participation class and so it was great to have that one hour a week where it's just me and her. She always would remind me that "Peyton can't come cause hers jus a baby".

You might be a redneck if...

You might be a redneck if you've ever killed, cooked, and eaten a wild hog on your own property. OK so my dad and brother and Birch did most of the killing and cooking but I did eat it and it was pretty good. My dad, Tysen, Michael, and Daylon went hunting for wild hogs after Christmas and set a trap. When they came back they had caught 6 of them and proudly brought them out to our house to build a pen and fatten them up a bit. On New Year's Eve after a bit of internet research on how exactly to cook a whole hog, they decided to call Birch, a friend of my Dad's for no other reason than he is from Louisiana so surely he knows how to do it. No stereotype there right. Well it turns out he did so our entire family, the Birch family, and the Sullivan's all got to enjoy pork that had been roasting in a pit for hours. We then had a little firework celebration in the back yard.
Of course you will notice in the pictures of Shelby eating that she just has a hot dog on her plate.
I trusted their methods enough to try it myself but I didn't give her any until we had all eaten and nobody had dropped dead. I can tell you this is not something I ever really thought I'd be doing for New Years Eve. I think my past New Years Eve's were spent at concerts or other parties where things like high heels and cocktail dresses were appropriate. But hey I do live in Texas now and when in Rome...

Christmas Blog Finally

Ok so we did have a GREAT Christmas. So great and so fun that Shelby is trying to make it still be Christmas even now that it is the 2nd of March. She still wants to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer every other day and sings "You better watch out, you better not cry" in the car all the time. She got her new Forsey (Horsey) whom she named Silver and a stick Forsey she named Midnight I think we are now at about 20 horses that all have names which she of course knows and I am expected to remember. These pictures are of Christmas morning at our house, a couple at Grandma's later that day and a couple of their Christmas dresses including one for Sally the Doll. Peyton loved "Blueberry" her new horsey bouncer, named of course by Shelby, and they both loved their new little table and chairs that Mommy had to paint and assemble on Christmas Eve because I was a huge procrastinator! It does seem a bit like horse overload sometimes but I am afraid it is a phase that will pass and then I will be so sad and miss it.

Twilight

Ok, I haven't updated my blog because I have been very busy in Forks. Those of you who understand, really understand. Those of you who don't go out right now buy all four of these books and read them all in a week, becoming completely obsessed like I have. OK Tyanya you were right

Dandy my Fwosey

Shelby's obsession with horses has not faded one bit. Here are a few pictures of her feeding her "fwosey" Dandy. This is something we have to do about every other day. We have determined that he loves carrots but won't eat sugar cubes at all and isn't really fond of apples either. He loves Shelby though and comes right over to eat carrots out of her hand. She has absolutely no fear of him whatsoever which is great and also a little scary for me.

Pumpkin Time

Well we kicked off the Halloween celebrations with a trip to the pumpkin patch and corn maze the first week of October with Tysen and Danette and their kids. The kids went for a ride in the tractor train, visited the petting zoo which was utterly unimpressive to kids that live on the ranch, and then we ate junk from the concessions and the kids ran around like little maniacs with their glow sticks (we went after dark). Shelby picked out a pumpkin from the $5 pile for her and one from the $1 pile for Peyton and by the time we got them back in the car they were both so tired they cried half of the way home and then fell asleep. The next week me, my mom, Danette, Shayla, Mikasa, and Vanessa all did the Race for the Cure 5K. My mom and pregnant Kasa walked and I am so proud to say I actually ran. I won't comment on my time but I did run and did finish and that was pretty good for my post pregnant out of shape self. That week was also the fair and even though it was October it was about 95 degrees and sunny so we went, ate every kind of fair food they had, and then let the kids ride the carousel (Shelby refused to participate because the ticket taker carnie guy tried to help her onto her horse and that ticked her off.) The Sunday before Halloween I made a bunch of sugar cookie dough and we let the kids cut out, bake, and decorate cookies all afternoon at my mom's house (I highly recommend doing all messy activities at Grandma's house and I'm sure she appreciates it!) They were really into cutting them out and then they each frosted about 3 and they were over it which left the adults to finish up the job. Even Sven the every holiday scrooge was required to decorate a couple and in true Sven fashion he turned one pumpkin into a yin and yang sign and another into a wave/ surf company logo. Shelby ate her weight in frosting.
On Monday it was party time again as Shayla and Daylon had to help out with their church ward's trunk or treat party so they wanted me to bring the girls. I was a witch, Shelby was Sugar the Horse of course, and Peyton was the cutest little pumpkin ever even though her hood kept falling down over her eyes. They had a chili cookoff dinner and then they had a bunch of games set up for the kids to play (basically a Sanford Junior Carnival for my fellow former Indians.) Shelby won a prize at the cake walk and got to chose from a whole table covered in cookies and cakes. Well she looked them all over very seriously and then chose the plate full of sugar cookies that Shayla had brought which were the ones we had made the night before and still had about 100 of at the house. Hey they were the cutest. Peyton loved watching all of the kids running around in costumes and was so overstimulated that I she fell asleep about half way through dinner and Grandma held her the rest of the night. The next night we had our ward's trunk or treat. I got them all decked out in their costumes again and this time we even decorated the back of my car with lights and had scary music playing. All of the cars line up all around the parking lot and the kids trick or treat from car to car. Shelby thought it was way more fun to just sit in the back of our car and hand out candy to the other kids. I kept trying to get her to go trick or treat. I'd say "don't you want to go get candy?" and she'd just look at me like I was stupid and say "but I alweady have wots of candy wight here" It was the same thing on Halloween night. She just really can't understand why if we have a whole giant bowl of candy at our house and at Grandma's house she needs to walk around and ask strangers for more. And really I can't come up with any reason either. I figure soon enough I won't be able to get her to want to ever stop trick or treating so I might as well enjoy the years where we do two houses and she says "ok all done let's go back to Ganma's house"

Ta Da!!

So my sweet little girl has started gymnastics. Basically it is the only thing I could find to put her in that had classes for 2 year olds as everything starts at 3. Sven is a little concerned that I am deviating from his tennis program that he has planned out for her but I figure a little more coordination can only help her future tennis career right? Anyways her first night Danette brought over the cutest little leotard for her to wear and Grandma went with us to hold Peyton and take pictures. I know that at some point most little girst wear their first little leotard and their mom's all think it is the absolute most adorable thing in the whole world but I am different see I KNOW she is the absolute most adorable thing in the whold world. It is a parent participation class so I did have to cut myself out of most of the pictures but I admit I have at least as much fun as she does. They do the little obstacle course where most of these pictures are and then we get to go work on the balance beams, the bars, and the trampolines. My favorite part is everytime she does a forward roll, that's gymnast lingo for summersault she has to stand up with her arms in the air and yells "Ta Da!!" Her favorite part is at the end they all get to go jump into this giant pit of foam that they have for their real gymnasts to practice dismounts into. I am proud to say that I am the only parent that is cool or geeky enough depending on how you look at it to jump right into the foam pit with them. The one problem being when we are all done I have to hoist myself out. It was a bit scary for a moment I was afraid I would have to get help to get out and completely humiliate myself but I made it (hey I sink a little deeper than a 2 year old ok).

Now Shelby's Song

Ok so Tori inspired me to get this stuff down before I forget it. Last night I was driving home and Shelby asked me to sing the ABC song. So I started on the ABC's and then she said "now the Butterfly Song". Well, we sing a lot of songs in the car but I don't know what the Butterfly Song is, so I asked her how it goes. She started singing "I'm a little butterfly" so I sang it back to her in her cute little sing song voice. Then she said "I fly so high all the way home." which I repeated. Next she said "Now let's sing Peyton's song" I said how does Peyton's song go? "I'm a little baby and I crawl so fast all the way home." This went on with her making up songs about herself, mommy, daddy, the car, and the lights outside of the car and me repeating them while trying not to laugh hysterically because it was so cute and so funny. I love seeing her little imagination just getting bigger and bigger

Horseys and Bouncys

How many times a day can you braid and unbraid a horsey's tail? Well let me tell you, it can't happen enough times to please a two year old horse lover. Shelby's horsey collection is up to about 10 and we have to take them ALL with us everywhere we go. They all have names which she has chosen, and some of them are the mommy's and daddy's of some of the others. We have to take them outside on the lawn to eat several times a day and she lines them all up so carefully. When I don't want her going outside (serious mosquitos right now) she tears leaves off of the house plants and makes little piles on the floor for them to eat. Peyton is just growing way to fast for me. She is becoming a champion bouncer in the little jumpy chair and we started feeding her rice cereal this week which she has absolutely no interest in but tolerates my silliness while I keep stuffing it in her mouth. She is 4 months old now and smiles everytime you look at her. These are just a few random pics from the past few weeks at our house. (I've got to get a new camera!!)

24 Hours in a Day

8 Times I breastfed Peyton
1 shower for me
9 Diapers Changed
3 Meals I coaxed Shelby into eating
3 Snacks Shelby talked me into having (marshmallows, cheese balls, gold fish)
4 Shelby hand washings
2 "horsey"tails in Shelby's hair
3 Trips out to the car to get me, diaper bag, laptop, purse, Shelby, & Peyton.
2 Additional trips it takes to get the "udder Woobie" and Sally the doll into the car
2 Trips to the shop to drop off/ pick up various papers and checks.
2 loads of laundry done
1 episode of Go Diego Go aka "Eggo"
1 time turning on The Land Before Time aka "Sharpoop"
1 nap for Shelby
3 naps for Peyton
1 trip outside to see the bulls
5 times sippy cup was refilled
1 load of dishes done
2 baths given to little girls
2 sets of jammies on little girls
1 bath given to Sally the doll
1 washcloth bath given to Sugar the Horse after crackers that had been chewed up were spit out all over her.
15 "A Holds" (to hold Shelby)
1 trip to the bank
1 trip outside to bounce on trampoline
1 trip to Science Spectrum
1 hour spent on ancestry.com
1 hour spent on bookeeping
2 Times Shelby got her shirt soaking wet and needed it changed (once at Science Spectrum, once with a bottle of water at Grandma's)
5 cell phone calls answered
15 cell phone calls ignored
1 bedtime story for Shelby
2 girls rocked to sleep
20 emails read
1 blog post written


1 Question ....................."So, What Did You Do All Day?"