The GIRLS weekend!

What a great girly weekend we had last weekend!
The boys (Jeff, Cole, Poppy, Uncle Tyler, Uncle Luke, and "Uncle" Ryan) headed out to camp at Mineral Wells state park and we girls had a "staycation" at Nonnie's house.

To start the weekend, we went to our FAVORITE (byow) sushi place.
It was Shelby's first sushi experience.
The chef made it special. He asked her to climb up on the counter so he could put a bandana on her just like his, then he took her around to the back so she could ring his gong. (Literally!)






Shelby then handed out our menus and chopsticks.


She found a new friend and got to watch the sushi rolls being made!


She had a great time using the chopsticks.


This is her gangsta face.


I don't think she used a fork at all. She improvised.


We went back to Nonnie's with FULL satisfied tummies!
(Reminder to self: Get more Vegas rolls next time...it was heavenly!)

At home we just talked and played and worked puzzles and took another picture of course!



The next day, we all went for a walk to the park and fed the ducks. Then, we went home and got all cleaned and prettied up for lunch and shopping!

We ate outside on a patio on a gorgeous day






After that, we spent THREE hours at an antique mall. Shelby was amazingly behaved for that long!


Then we still headed to do some more shopping at World Market. It was next door to pet adoption day at PetSmart so Shelby really enjoyed that, our little animal lover.

Back at home, Nonnie made some homemade veggie pizza and we got in the hot tub.


Girls will be girls!!!



Oh and here is my new piece from the antique shop!

I love it, it is in our entry way...my next step is to put a cool (red or brown) vintage patterned (damask?) wallpaper behind it in that little space!


The inside is left with the dark wood, and all three shelves are lighted from inside.



Happy Friday!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Camping Edition

Location: Pat Mayes Lake, Powderly, Texas.

Colemanisms

Last night since I was ready to go to bed at 8:00 with the kids, I told them we could have a "family bed"---them sleeping with us, which they love to do and always beg for.
After playing and jumping around for a while, I told them it was time to lay down and be quiet. It was me, then Cole, then Shelby. Once the lights were out Cole kept tossing and turning and after a couple of minutes he huffed and said, "This is hard. I wanna go to my bed!" I'm like, Seriously?!?! A 2 year old would rather go into his room?! So I asked him if he was sure, and he said, "Yep." So Daddy took him in there to his room and he went straight to bed without a peep. Little weirdo!!! :)

This morning sitting at the breakfast table looking into the backyard:
C: "Look at those squirrels in the tree!!!"
M: "Yep! They're running in our tree!"
C: "I gonna shoot them and then they will be goners!!!"
(guess this is what he comes home with after a weekend with the boys!!!)

Shelby's 1st Dentist Visit

Shelby had her very first Dentist visit on Monday.
She has a friend in her class that has already lost TWO teeth so that really made me want to get her in for a visit soon! :)

She was very excited to go.
She has had dentists visit them at school so she is familiar with it...except she kept asking me if the dentist was going to take her teeth out! Even so, she wasn't scared in the least.

Here she is all smiles in the waiting room.



It was a small private office (one dentist) that I feel VERY fortunate to have found. They take our insurance! YAY!
The brought us right in and got to work.



Shelby climbed up in the chair and opened her mouth. We kept telling her she didn't have to keep it open yet but she still did. Haha!



The dentist had a tv above the chair so Daddy got Shelby's perspective of Hannah Montana and Billy Ray! :)



The dentist himself cleaned her teeth. He was gentle and VERY good with Shelby. She did great!


Afterwards, they gave her a foam flouride treatment, which she successfully held in her mouth for a full minute.

All done and all smiles!


I knew she would do great at the dentist but she completely shocked me with just how good she was! Made Mommy and Daddy so proud!!!
(oh and her teeth look great and no cavities!)

Some Halloween night pictueres

Saturday night was Halloween night.
We had plans to go trick or treating and have a nice evening with Jessica and Joey.

The kids were very excited to get all dressed up again...


This time we put make-up and a tattoo on Cole.


Daddy made himself up and he was the official candy-hander-outer at the Davis house while we moms took the kids door to door.


I tried hard to get a picture of all of them looking...of course my camera made it blurry.


Joey was the cutest little Stinker. :)



Jess and I had our "redneck stemware" full of "Mommy juice."


The kids did great! Joey and Cole only tried to walk into people's houses a couple of times :)


We came home to THIS!






After a bath, the boys were ready to cuddle in and watch Nemo.
Best Buds!!!!




Boo!

Family night

Last Friday night we had another Jones family dinner over at the Peck house.
Jeff was off Friday so after the Halloween walk, Daddy went home to SMOKE SOME RIBS!!!

After a yummy dinner, I caught the BOYS doing the dishes!
(My mom and I have discussed what Messy cooks we are- definitely not "clean up as you go" people!!!)


Jeff was sporting his hat the the Beef Council sent us when I won their contest...but since we were cooking pork....





After dinner we watched Shelby change dress up clothes about 7 or 8 times. She even dressed Mary up in a tutu. Doesn't Mary look thrilled? :)


One of the many outfits...


And she dressed Poppy up too. :)



We played SingStar too...


Lots of fun was had as usual! We love our LOUD crazy family nights!!! :)

The campus Halloween walk

We got up Friday morning and got all dolled up for our Annual Children's Center Halloween walk!

First off I have for you the cutest little witch that ever there was...



Can you argue that? :)



Then we had Scary (Rahr!) Frankenstein (with a sucker at 8am. It's the only way we could get him to wear his costume.)


Then together they make the cutest little Halloween duo.



Sweet little posers!!



Mommy gets in a picture too!



When we get to school, Shelby asks to pose with her babies. Little Mama witch.


Coleman and Daddy headed off with the HoneyBees to start their walk first!



Shelby and Madalyn decided to be buddies during the 3 hour walk. They stayed side by side the whole time.





We got to stop a couple of times and sample the candy.



This is Cole with one of his HoneyBee buddies Darth Vader Jackson


I took advantage of Shelby actually WANTING to dress like me this year :)


Natalia and her mommy were witches too!


I noticed we got pictures of these same poses from the kiddos. Introspective? :)


The walk was tiring and we got about 20 pounds of candy (2 FULL backpacks!) but as usual it was a blast and totally worth it!

Homework

Sleepy time journal. Shelby drew her "Night time buddy" Mary, who sleeps with her every night.

Thursday

It is Thursday and it's been a busy week and will be a very busy weekend!

Tuesday night Nonnie and Poppy got home from Nashville so of course we had to head right over and have dinner with them after missing them all weekend!
They had an awesome time visiting Aunt Jana and Uncle Bruce.
Just look how cute they are.



(and look at those gorgeous fall colors!)

They got to attend the Grand Ole' Opry on Saturday night!
They went on hikes (also with Ben and Emily).


They had singing around a bonfire.



They visited Jack Daniels :)



Happy 50th Aunt Jana and happy 54th to my Daddy!!!

Last night (Wednesday) was the night where Nonnie and Poppy pick the kids up from school so I can work late. When we got home, Jeff cooked hamburgers and we did Shelby's weekly homework and before we knew it it was past bedtime!

Tomorrow morning is the annual 3 hour Halloween walk at the kids' school and NE Campus. It is so much fun and so great how all the departments at the campus participate. The get so much candy that they have to bring a big backpack to wear to fit it all! I can't wait to share pictures of our little Witch and Frankenstein.

Then tomorrow night we are having smoked ribs courtesy of Jeffie. We will celebrate Poppy's birthday with a homemade apple pie (courtesy of me!) (Oh yeah Millie, Anna, you are invited, just haven't called you yet!!!!)

Saturday we are off to a birthday party for Natalia and Madalyn, and then over to Jessica and Joey's house to trick or treat and have a Halloween sleepover!

Sunday is Ashlyn's 4th birthday party. It is a royal ball. Just wait till you see what Cole will be wearing with all the sweet princesses! He will get lots of kisses. :)

Then the weekend will be over and our house will be a mess and we will have piles of laundry but that's ok because we will have had a great weekend full of family time and friend time and isn't that really what matters anyway?

Besides, Daddy hung up last weekend's laundry last night. Bless him!




Next weekend we are camping at Mineral Wells. Can't wait!!!

Woofless Wednesday!

Bedtime

Cole just came sneaking into the living room for the 3rd time since we put him to bed.

C: "I'm done."
Me: "You're done with what?"
C: "I'm done with my bed. I'm just done with my bed! "
Jeff: "Coleman get in your bed."
C: "Umm I want water. I want too much water. I want it filled up Daddy." (as daddy leads him back to bed.)

...

And he's up again!

Shelbyisms

Back to the 'isms... I have been slacking!!!

This morning Shelby wanted me to help her find "something that opens so I can pretend to do laundry" and I told her she could do "REAL laundry" and she got really excited.
So she went to the dryer and got the towels out and began to fold them.
Pulling out a towel she said, "This one's pretty big mommy. It's kind of like medium. Like you." Well, I'm glad I'm MEDIUM and not REALLY BIG!!!

Then Mary walked by. Shelby said, "Mary's like, "Hey why is shelby doing all the work and not playing with me? Wahhhh! Wahhhh!"" You should hear her interpretive Mary voice. :)

Then she started putting all the towels away. "I'm doing all this hard work with my rings on and they didn't fall off one time! They're kind of some good rings to do laundry in and wear to Millie's. They're some good rings. I can tell Millie how cool I'm doing with laundry."

And I will end with a Colemanism :)
He was sitting in his chair in time out yesterday. Shelby came and sat down in her chair right next to him. "You makin bad choices too Sissy??"

Peck Pretty Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Don't you just love alliteration? I do.

As I said in my last post, I am completely shocked that Stefani Marcus got any good pictures of us---but she did!!!
It was a mini session, only 15 minutes---but was really 10 because that's the max amt of time that we could get Coleman to stay in the vicinity.
And in those 10 minutes she got 2 hands full of REALLY great pictures! Frame-able. Printable.
I am saving my favorite family picture, you'll have to wait and see that one on our Christmas cards!!!!



I love this one because it is REAL.
Come here buddy, let me hug you! I SAID COME HERE! I NEED TO HUG YOU!!!! GRRRrrrr! NOW SMILE!


Sweet boy!



Hat from Briar Claire :)





Little Miss Sass. The shirt says "What's not to love?"




Thank you Stefani!!!!!

It's FALL y'all!!

Here are some of the fun things we've been doing so far this FALL 09. In between all the rain of course....

---

Eating on patios!!!!!

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Decorating pumpkins!

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We went to a pirate birthday party! (Arrrrg!) (Happy birthday Luke!!!)



Shelby is a smasher.








Yum! Cake!!

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Cole has been practicing his photography!









It's (ahem) artistic.

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We decorated Halloween cookies.

Shelby had a pumpkin and Cole had a ghost

---

Then, this past weekend, we visited the Flower Mound Pumpkin patch.

Cole looked cute...


Shelby was in a picture-posing mood.



Cole was not.



He wanted to play.



He wanted to bounce and slide. (and knock over pumpkins!)

...look at those filthy socks!!!!

Shelby posed with Ariel.





And Snow White.



And she said I Love You with her hands :)



The pumpkin patch was muddy and crowded.
But we got some good pictures.










Then we met with a photographer and had a little mini-photo session.
Despite our crazy kids not wanting to sit still and the mass chaos around us, Stefani managed to get some great pictures! (That is talent.) :)
I will post some of the pictures later!

For now, a few more of the ones we took!







Hope everyone is enjoying fall as much as the PECK FAM!

So many things left out!!!

I try to be really good about blogging as a journal to keep track of the fun things we do and outings we have and people we see...but I am not all comprehensive. And I hate it when I miss talking about some great stuff we do...

Like when Aunt Jan and Uncle Dane came into town a couple weeks ago for the Arkansas vs. A&M game (where the Hogs kicked some Aggie bootie!!!) On that Sunday we cooked out at our house and had such a grand ol time that my dear auntie stayed an extra night just for me! (Well, maybe for everyone else too!!!) Tyty was here and stayed too! It was a party / sleepover in the Peck living room. (Too bad we don't have any guest beds!!!) The kids had so much fun with Jan and Dane and Uncle Tyler! So much fun...very little pictures!!!

We did have a small little TyTy Coleman Dallas Cowboys photo shoot.







And I snagged this one of Nonnie and Shelby:


Oh and a tiny little proof of Aunt Jan here!


Then the next weekend Mimi and Jack came! We got to have dinner with them at our house one night, where the kids showed Mimi their really great lungs and probably gave them plenty of noisiness to last them till Christmas at least :)


More REALLY big news :)

...I colored my hair




Do you like it?
There is still more to come...lots of pictures and things I need to write about!!! There was a zoo trip sometime in the past month with lots of pictures that someone hasn't posted about yet!!!
And a pumpkin patch.
And decorating pumpkins and cookies.
And camping at Powderly with Nana and Papa G (and Nonnie and Poppy) this past weekend...

I will catch up!

Because I like it.

An old friend of mine from high school Amanda shared this on her blog b/c it made her smile. And it made me smile. I enjoyed it so much that I'm sharing it with you!
I love Michael Buble and what a cute video this is!
Enjoy!

Boy oh boy

Oh my goodness...this BOY of ours...

He is so boy.

He is so different from our GIRL at this age.

From early on, his nickname has been "Destructo." It still is the best word to describe him. At the pumpkin patch, where all the kids flutter around and look and point at the big pumpkins, Cole runs up and kicks them over. As many as he can. Every one he comes to...sometimes it's not a kick but he just grabs it and tosses it over. Pumpkins that are almost as big as him.

We went to Nana's this weekend. She has these geese out in her front yard. These ones (pic from Feb 08)


In that pic Shelby was about Cole's age now and what did she do? She petted and "rode" on the geese. Cole went straight to them on Saturday and knocked every one of them over.

At night when putting him to bed, I tell him to put his head on the pillow and he crashed it into the pillow at full force. No gentle sleepy-time for him.

He never stops. He never rests. He doesn't leave anything untouched.

He is boy.

Colemanisms

Earlier tonight,I asked Cole for a kiss. He said, "I hafta tink bout dat."
Then as I was putting him to bed, I told him I would come back and check on him, as always. If I don't tell him that, he says, "You gon' check on me?" On my way out, he said, "Mommy, you gon' mop or sumthin?" "No baby." "You gon' laundry then?" Haha, I guess I have convinced him that I do lots of chores after he goes to bed!

In other news, my baby girl took her first shower BY HERSELF tonight. Is this supposed to happen this early?!!? :(

Keepin it real...

After my gushy lovey Sissy post today, we get home and she is whining for me to do something for her while doing the pee-pee dance. This girl puts off potty more than anyone I've ever seen (even myself!) So I told her that I wasn't doing anything for her until she went to the potty.
She ran off mad and as she was walking into the bathroom I hear, "...is stupid STUPID! I hate her!"

:(

Like I said, foreshadowing.... it's inevitable right?

Shelby: 4 and a half!!!

Well, 2 days ago Sissy Missy Prissy turned 4 and a half! In my head she is 5, and I don't know why! So then I am mad at myself for aging her early!
A few days ago I was asking her, "Could you please stay little forever? Huh? Please?!?!" as I was tickling her. She was giggling and saying "No!" and I kept asking "Why not?", and then stopped and seriously said, "Because TIME PASSES Mommy!" Well, okay then. :(

Sissy is 4 going on 20. She loves fashion and she loves changing clothes (like multiple times a day!) Getting dressed in the mornings is hit or miss, and I haven't noticed any pattern of what I do or say or don't do or say that will make it go smoothly (or not.) I think it's just that lovely GIRL attitude. Oftentimes she gets dressed in the clothes I put out, and is happy. The object of most contention is shoes. Very often she doesn't like the shoes I have picked out, and wants to pick her own...but if I don't put shoes out, she asks me to help her pick them out, saying, "Well what do you think would look cute Mommy?" Sometimes she doesn't like the clothes I put out (but that isn't very often) and in that case I tell her to pick some other ones out. I mean, it's SCHOOL not a fashion show!!! :) One day she got all pouty and said, "Mommy I don't feel like this is cute!" after she got dressed. Oh, my! I assured her she looked wonderful and she happily moved on. She likes to choose what is done with her hair, and what goes in it. She does NOT like taking baths.
She walks into school every morning, always grinning and waiting for Ms. Barbara to go on about her shoes or her outfit or her hair or all three, and she just gushes and blushes and loves it.

This is just all documentation for me to look back on and see the foreshadowing for what was to come... ;)

At four and a half, she loves to draw and is very good at it (which she must have gotten from her daddy!) She can color a whole page all in the lines. She still loves to watch movies and still loves her babies and Bobby. She has been going to sleep in her own bed every night, and sometimes ends up in ours. She is a homebody and LOVES to be at home with Daddy or Mommy (or all of us is the best!) She also loves our girl times when I take just her shopping or out to eat.
She is a very sweet sister and never takes one of anything without also taking one for Coleman. She likes to make sure Cole is taken care of. On that same note, the tattling has begun, and man it is exhausting! She obeys the rules for the most part and always tattles when Cole says something he's not supposed to (which lately is "Shut up.") She has come into a new stage of not wanting to spend the night anywhere away from home...she used to want to spend the night with Nonnie all the time, and now she still asks to go over there but specifies that she does not want to spend the night.

Shelby is always the one who reminds us to say our prayer before dinner and at bedtime. She loves it when her Daddy reads books to her, and she loves going on walks/runs around the neighborhood.
She has become a great eater and has definitely filled out this year, skipping right past size 5s and into 6s. She eats veggies and LOVES bread...she could take or leave meat. Of course she loves candy and sweets. She licks the icing off cupcakes. She notices how I eat sometimes or things I say to Jeff, and in turn asks me if certain things are good for her before she eats them. I don't want to talk about DIETING to her but instead just encourage putting healthy things into our bodies to stay healthy and happy.

Raising a daughter is the most challenging and rewarding thing in the entire world.