Shelbyisms

I went shopping today. (Yay Mommy time!!!) While I was gone, Shelby was persistent in begging to watch her Popeye (yes the oldie cartoon) dvd. Jeff kept telling her no, so she gave it a break. After some playing and several minutes later, she came up to Jeff and said, "I love Popeye because he is a great sailor and a great man."

Shelby and Matthew were playing with a big poster map, and Matthew had it.
Shelby: I need my map back.
Matthew: Why????
Shelby: Cause when an animal's in trouble in the ocean, and close by to my submarine, I can look at it and go a different path.

Diego and Dora---a learning adventure.

When I get Cole out of the bath I usually wrap him up in a towel and rock him in my arms like a baby and sing, "Mommy's baby...Baby boy...Mommy's sleepy baby boy..." Last night as he was standing on the rug and I was drying him off, I finished and turned to pick up Shelby's towel to get her out and he held his hands up for me to pick him up and said, "Baby boy!!!" ...Heart melt!!!

Marriage survey

AWWWWwww, just as I was about to hit POST on this, our wedding song "all the way" came on my Zune shuffle. Now I *know* we're meant to be. hahaha

How long have you been married?
4 years, 10 months, 15 days

Is this your first marriage?
Yes

Is it how you imagined it would be?
It is truly a lot better than I imagined it

What would you change?
I'd like to travel more (but that will come someday!)

Are you married to your soulmate?
I think so, definitely

What do you argue about the most?
Silly things like who has done more dishes since we were married (me, obviously!) :)

What do you see eye to eye on the most?
How to raise our children

Where did you meet your spouse?
First State Bank of Texas, downtown Denton, Texas

Where was your first date?
Loophole (downtown Denton) and then official first date was to Don Pablos and Grapevine Mills AMC

Where were you when you became engaged?
My apartment on Thousand Oaks Dr.

Did you live together before marriage?
Yes, for 2 weeks

What was your wedding song?
"I Will Love You" - Fisher (ceremony)
"All The Way" - Frank Sinatra (first dance)

Who was in your wedding party?
My sister Millie
My sister Anna
Oldest friend Amber
2nd oldest friend Kelly
Sorority sister Kylie
Sorority sister Erica
Sorority sister Merch
Sorority sister Leslie
Jeff's dad Charles
My brother Tyler
Childhood friend Jeremy
High school friend Joe
High school friend Robby
College friend Kirk
College friend Whittle
College friend Ben
College friend Steve
My little cousins Kade, Jake, and Samantha

Do you get along with the in-laws?
Yep :)

Whats your view on children?
I guess we'll keep them.

Does your spouse feel the same way?
Usually

Are you a 2 peas in a pod or opposites attract couple?
2 peas in a pod usually

Do you go out without your spouse?
Sometimes if you count work, shopping and girl dinners as "going out" :)

How long are you away from your spouse before you start to miss him/her?
About a day??

Have you ever compared your spouse to someone you have dated in the past?
Not really

Do you trust your Spouse?
Completely and totally. I wouldn't be with him if I didn't.

Does your Spouse trust you?
Yes. He has very few jealous or untrusting bones in his body.

How well does your spouse know your favorites?
Hmmm I'll have to quiz him on our roadtrip this week. He'll love that.

Do you get along with your spouses friends?
Yes.

Does your spouse get along with your friends?
Yes.

Did you go on a honeymoon?
Yes, we went on a 7 night cruise and loved every second of it!

Do you watch the same TV shows?
A lot of them, but only I watch Samantha Who and Private Practice, and he's on his own with sportscenter and actually most all sports.

Can you agree on Pizza toppings?
Only because he'll eat anything! If he picked it would be pepperoni and Italian sausage which I do not like.

Who takes out the trash?
He does unless I'm feeling especially sweet.

Who does laundry??
We both do.

Who cooks dinner?
We both do.

Do you have any traditions?
???

Do you know your spouses passwords/pins?
I think so, I probably set most of them up.

Does your spouse know your social security number?
I doubt it

Do you ever nag your spouse?
Well nag's such a negative word...

Do you admit wrong doing?
I do IF and I mean IF I'm wrong

Does your spouse?
Yes, if he's in the wrong and sometimes just to shut me up.

Give thanks...My husband

To Jeff... my husband and best friend. You are everything to me. Your unconditional love and patience are so inspiring to me and others that know you. God has given us the most blessed opportunity to create a family together and you are more than I could have ever wished for in a Daddy and a partner to go through this journey with. You teach me so many things on a daily basis, but one thing especially is just to slow down and truly take joy in everything we do. I am so thankful for the way you provide for us but even more importantly, your desire to do so. You are so smart...too smart sometimes...haha, and I am extremely proud to be your wife. Thank you for making me laugh, especially when I don't want to, and helping me see that everything will be ok...always. Your support is irreplacable.
You make everything more fun to do...and not only do I love you, I also LIKE you! I cannot wait to grow old and bald (wink,wink!) with you!
Love, Meg

Give thanks...My Cole

To Coleman... our baby Bubby, Mommy's little man. Oh how I love your smile. And your laugh. And your sweet kissable cheeks and feet. I am so thankful that God gave us such a beautiful and strong little buddy. You are so carefree and brilliant. You have such a innocent joy in life and everything that surrounds you...it makes people flock to you just to get a look at your sweet face and bright grin and giggles that go with it. Your husky little voice reminds us what a BOY you are. I love the special times when you let me rock you and sing to you while you're wrapped up in a towel just out of the bath, and when we dance to country songs in our living room like we did when you were an itty bitty buddy. Seeing your face light up when you see your sissy, and hearing you say "I love" a hundred times a day will never get old.
You make our family complete, and I thank God for your sweet heart and your perfect self every single day.
Love, Mommy

Give thanks...My Shelby

To Shelby...my sweet little Sissy bear. Your beauty shines from the inside out. Your joy in life is so contagious and you make us smile a hundred times a day. I am so grateful for your loving heart and the way you always make sure everyone is taken care of. I love your strong opinions and how you fight for your independence and are proud to take care of things for yourself. I am so thankful for what a wonderful sister you are to Cole and the deep devotion we can see in your eyes when you look at him and share with him and teach him how to do things. I am especially thankful for your love of God, and your inexplicable understanding of who He is and how much He loves you.
You bring us such joy. You will always be our little Sweet Pea and I thank God for you every day.
Love, Mommy

Shelby's 3 year old evaluation

We went on Saturday to have a yearly "parent teacher conference" with Shelby's teachers. Her teachers had nothing but great things to say about her. The main things they said was that she is a little "mama bear" and loves to help her friends. They said that she is a strong leader but not in a bossy way. They said that she is their go-to girl when a friend needs help with something like folding their nap blanket. They said that she's very inquisitive and has a strong memory (which we already knew!) She stays on task and has a very long attention span.
On her "standard evaluation" that they did in September at the beginning of the school year, Shelby missed a few points because she didn't use irregular plural nouns. They showed her a picture of more than one mouse and she didn't say "Mice." I'm not worried about that at this point! I was actually surprised that that was on a 3-year-old evaluation. Sometimes I get confused on irregular plural nouns (and I may or may not have had to call my mom the writing teacher to find out what irregular plural nouns were) Haha!
Ms. Michelle and Ms. Debby love our little Shelbs and had tons of cute stories about her. I didn't expect anything bad but it is great to have positive reinforcement that everything is right on track with our little love girl.

What a song

It won't be like this for long...
Reminds me of my Shelbs and my sweet hubby, and also my Daddy.
The tears felt good this morning, ESPECIALLY since we haven't seen babygirl since 4:00 yesterday. She's having a great time with Aunt Millie but we REALLY missed reading to her and putting her to sleep last night. The house was so quiet and kinda lonely without her!

Listen (If you want to bypass the interview the song starts at about 1:50)



Thanks Kristin for sharing this on Google Reader!

Busy Bees!

Friday was pirate day at Shelby's school. They've been studying pirates and had to be all dressed up on Friday to go on a treasure hunt. It was COLD outside so we came prepared:



Guess who had the treasure? MOMMY!!!
Some of the kids were mad at me b/c their teacher jokingly told them that I STOLE the treasure. I hope I'm not known as the "mean mommy" now!
(The kids are all yelling "ARRRRGH!!!")


Friday night we got Matthew so we could hang with him all weekend.
Saturday morning Matthew and Shelby played outside for hours. They decided to "decorate" the F-150 since Daddy was decorating the house with Christmas lights.
When I went out to check on them they would tell me "We're BUSY!"



Working hard...



Pausing for a smile...


Shelby decides to make Silly faces for the camera...




Saturday afternoon we got to hang out with some good friends and had a yummy steak dinner and yummier wine.
My friend Susan's son Ryan and Shelbs. Look at those baby blues on him!!!



Mommy Shelby:


Messy face brother with Joey:


When we got home my whole family was there waiting for us to watch the Tech game.
We were all decked out:
Jeff, Tyler are the tall boys in the back, then Cole, Anna, me, Millie and Luke in the front


This was before the game, of course :) Later on Jeff went and got his OU mug to drink out of. hahaha They are his second favorite team after all!!!



On Sunday we went up to Denton to return Matthew :) We met at the Square and the kids got to run out some energy.
Again with the silly faced Sister Bear


Cole Daddy is so cute!!!




Gram and Grandpa coming to get Matthew:



Then Sunday evening we went and had our "friends Thanksgiving dinner" with our old neighbor supper group. Eric's famous spaghetti sauce and Christal's meatballs were quite a treat!!! We took Mary dog but she and their boy Trey didn't get along very well. And we had such high hopes for them being boyfriend and girlfriend!!! :)

Sunday night was spent searching for Jeff's keys for HOURS. HOURS. HOURS.
We searched every drawer, cabinet, bag, toy bin, trash, couch, under every piece of furniture, and even had friends looking at their house for them, etc. I kept thinking they were in my car but Jeff said he looked in there. Twice. I KNEW I should have gone and looked myself. After the annoyance of arranging things so he could drive my car to work and me being stuck here at work an hour early without a car...he found them after he got to work. In my car, under the floormat...the first place I would have looked!!! I could just kill him. But I won't :) I will just make sure *I* look next time. I thought he had had an epiphany and learned how to actually look for something. haha

The end.

Family portrait

Shelby brought this home from school on Tuesday.

She said it's (left to right) "Me, Mommy, Daddy, and my baby brother"

A Mary-sized solution

So far this is working out great. She loves to be outside and lay in the sun...so she can do that but not dig holes!!! Win-win. We've been stalking craigslist for a couple of weeks looking for one of these kennels and we finally scored. It was CHEAP ($100, usually over $300 new) and brand new, and about a mile from our house. SCORE.
It's 6x10 and isn't as much of an eyesore as I thought it would be. That brown thing in the back is a big ol warm dog house, and we are going to make a cover for the kennel before summer rolls around.
Mary is MUCH LESS freaky when we get home now, because she can move around in here some during the day. Also Jeff took her running last night and they ran a few miles. Let's hope he keeps that up too!

One more...

AFTER bedtime, Shelby just walked in all proud with her pink lampshade on her head. Grinning away. I told her to get in bed but she heads the other way (to daddy) instead.
A minute later as he carries her back down the hall...
S: I'm a lamp because I have this on me....
D: Ummmhmm and I'm gonna turn you OFF.

Nighttime Shelbyism

I'm lying in Shelb's bed in her room scratching her back for bedtime:
M: I have to go do chores
S: No daddy can do them.
M: No daddy won't do them unless I go in there and tell him to.
S: Why?
M: Because that's what boys do. Daddy won't do anything unless I tell him to. (Maybe I shouldn't already be letting her in on this secret?????)
S: But Mommy I want you stay in here with me like this long (((holding her arms out wide)))
M: I love you. Night night, I'm going out now.
S: No Mommy!!! Just go tell him to do things and then you can come scratch my back!!

Peck Rewind: Mommy

Born in Hogtown Arkansas, I became a Texan by age 2.
Makin a pretty picture here (with my Nana):

Little did anyone know I would go on to teach my babies to make their own pretty pictures!
(Shelby)

(Cole)


My first Pigtails??


The epitome of early 80's to me.

This is me with my grandad. I was his first Granddaughter.


Me and my daddy


I have never been a dancer, but I can't say my parents didn't try :)


Always a good student...


And destined to be a bride...


Of course there was an awkward phase


But I made it through school just fine! Class of 98.


The next step on the journey was college....
Where I had some fun, met new friends...



and kept old friends


Then one day in the basement of a bank....he told me I had nice handwriting.
....to be continued....

Impatient Mommy = playroom re-do

I am so bad. I can't ever wait to give gifts and I hate surprises. Well, last week I ordered 2 of the pottery barn kids chairs for the kids, planning on giving them as Christmas gifts. When they arrived 2 days later, I wanted to open them. But I didn't. But then the next day I ran into a great sale at Target and was able to get a 9-cube storage system on sale. I've been wanting to re-do/organize their little playroom for a long time. So of course I got home and had to put the shelf together immediately, and also the chairs. I wanted to get the room looking good again- and I figured the kids wouldn't be TOO excited about chairs on Christmas anyway...plus this way they'll get 2 more months use out of them, right? See how I talk myself into these things?

Well they do love their "new" playroom and new chairs!