Colemanisms

C: (looking at my hand) "You got an owie mommy?"
M: (I show him my handy manny band-aid on my finger.)
C: "NO...That's for boys Mommy. No, you need a girl one. Get it off!"

M: "Cole, if you eat your dinner you will get big and strong like daddy. "
Daddy: "Yeah and you can run fast."
C: "Yeah I'll get big and strong and drink beer!"
M: (ignoring the beer comment) "You're such a big boy when you eat your dinner"
C: "Yeah and I'll be big and I can drink beer!" (just to make sure we heard the beer part!) :)

Eyes!

I love to find some good “Photo editing for dummies” blogs and instructions!

This morning I played around with editing eyes in Photoshop- I have tried this before, but some of the previous tutorials I’ve seen have NOT helped my little “colorless” eyed children. It’s hard to turn up saturation or bump the hue on gray. Really doesn’t make near as much difference as it does on BLUE eyes! So previous attempts at highlighting my kids eyes really haven’t been very successful.

So- these instructions dealt with using Dodge and Burn tools, and I really liked the outcomes! Can you see the difference? It’s slight but very cool. Yay for pretty eyes!!!

Ryan’s TWO!

Last weekend we headed out to the Kerrs for Ryan’s 2nd birthday party.  Since it was a 10 am, Susan dared to try to have a party without beer or wine….bah!  We fixed that really quick with a trip out to her garage :)

It was a beautiful day so there was plenty of swinging, sliding, and bouncing.  These kids love being outdoors, and love each other!  It is amazing how much fun they have together (and no fighting or bickering!)

 

Cole and Joe, the rowdy buddies:

Ryan hitting his pinata:

 

Cole takes a whack at it:

And Ashlyn:

Ryan and Shelby are so funny!  When Ryan got excited about something, the first words out of his mouth were, “Look Shelby!  Come on Shelby!!!”  Here she is holding him while they watch the pinata bashing:

I think he really loved this present :)

Pretty mama and son with their baby blues!!!

This is Ryan when he saw his present coming down the street! :)

The present:

Everyone climbed on for rides!

Shelby just loves cake

Our 4 rugrats sat and ate every bite at the table…

Jeff must have caught this on camera and it cracked me up when I saw it.  Shelby wiping Ryan’s face :)

“Oooh look honey, you have something on your lip…”

“…hold still a minute…”

“…there!  All better.”

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!

Parent of the Week

Shelby’s class has a Parent of the Week program, in which each family makes a poster with emphasis on what the parents do for a job while the kids are at school.  Shelby helped with our poster a lot.  She wrote a lot of the words! :) (I smudged out some of our details in the picture of the poster.)

Shelby was able to explain to her class that Daddy helps people fix their cars after a crash by giving them money :)  She said that Mommy “Works on the computer.”  That’s about as exciting as it gets.  Good enough!

Afterwards, Shelby passed out little goodies for her friends.  She was so proud to be in front of the class with her parents!

Eccentric Shelby

Oh sweet Shelby.  The animal lover.  The nature girl.  The explorer.  The Momma.  The Miss Priss.  All wrapped into a beautiful and dynamic little (almost) 5 year old body.

This weekend as we were hiking down through the trees alongside Lake Mineral Wells, you were in your element.  You were the leader.  You insisted that no one walk ahead of you.  You had found your own little walking stick and just led the way.  When we came upon other people with dogs, (as you always do,) you went right up to them and said, “I have a dog named Mary.  We have 3 dogs.  Roxxy, Rusty, and Mary.  Roxxy and Rusty are little dogs.  They’re at home.  Mary is our big dog.”  You love to bond with other dog owners…after all, if they’re dog lovers, they’re good people, right?! :)

You are a messy little packrat.  Our little hoarder!  You love to take things out of your drawers and stack them in other random places in your room, like your window seat or behind your door.  You like to empty the contents of a toy bin or a drawer into a bag or purse (and never put everything back where it belongs.)  I am constantly finding traces of Shelby around our house.  Last night I couldn’t close your bedroom door because you had tied your rocking chair to your doorknob with a ribbon from one of your stuffed animals using 6 knots.  You take your (not cheap!) hair bows and stick them on random stuffed animals or purses or drawers.  I’ll find socks fit on a doorknob and shoe laces tied so many times that it takes 30 minutes to get them apart.  You bring home envelopes with cut-up construction paper in them daily from school, and they are treasured by you, and a huge mess to Mommy, but you insist that they are not trash.  Lately you’ve been bringing home balls of foil.  FOIL!?  I have found these foil balls in the house, in Mary’s cage, and in my car.  ….OH MY CAR.  It is rare that we get into my car without you bringing some pieces of nature with you.  It is often a stick or a rock that you have picked up on our short walk to the car.  Yesterday, it was a big bunch of dry pine needles from our driveway, which you spent the entire drive tying into a bouquet with yet another ribbon that you picked up somewhere and saved.  It is not rare for you to have a pocketfull of (dead) daffodils that you had picked out on the playground to give me, and I end up putting them in MY pocket, hoping that I remember them before I find them in the washer or dryer.  My car is always in need of a good clean-out and vacuuming.

You have about 32 stuffed animals that are special to you and you can’t part with.  They all have names and we all know their names.  There’s Penny and BloDo, Bobby of course.  There’s Rojo, Poodle, Sister Bear, Val, Gus, Betty the Teddy, and Jasmine, just to name a few.  We know where they each came from and why you like them.  Sometimes we try to pare down the pile but it is usually only 1 or 2 that we can part with.  You are beginning to be less attached to them, though.  You used to always beg me to take 3 or 4 animals into school, but not anymore.  You used to insist on lining up about 10 of them in bed with you, all under the covers.  Now I am sure you still sleep with one or a few, but it no longer is a huge ordeal.  You are growing up I suppose. :(

This morning, you told Daddy, “I want to take a shower but I don’t want to get wet.”  Well---you are very particular and know what you want!  You like to do things your way and you like to give your reasons and convincing speeches, but you really are working on arguing less and going with the flow when Mommy begs you to.  Your teachers just brag about what a great helper you are.  This weekend I taught you some softball chants/cheers, and you went to school and asked your class to be quiet so you could teach one to them.  “We’re number one, can’t be number two, and we’re gonna beat the whoopie outta you!”  I really think you’re going to love this softball season!  When Cole was having a bad and whiney day at school on Tuesday, his teacher came and “borrowed” you and asked you to speak to him.  You gave him a great big-sister speech and a hug, and it really helped him.  What a great motivator and caretaker you are!

You are very particular about your socks being on the right way and pulled up or rolled down just how you prefer.  You have to have your sleeves rolled up to the perfect length on your wrist, and your panties have to fit just right.  You always have an opinion about how you want your hair in the morning.  You keep mama busy!  I don’t say all these things to make it sound like it’s always a struggle and a battle.  I love these little intricacies about you…some of them are so like Mommy, and some come from Daddy.  Some are your own little thing that we don’t know WHERE it came from.  It is so cool to see you develop into this independent little girl who we can trust to tell us things that happen that we don’t see, and to ask for help when we need it, and to nurture your little brother and show him how to grow up and be his own little self, too.

You’ve been constantly using more advanced phrases in your sentences.  Daddy and I both noticed you saying “Perhaps” this weekend, and some other things that I can’t bring to mind right now.  You say LIKE a lot.  Especially, like, when you’re telling stories from your day or trying to, like, explain something.  You crack us up with your grown-up conversations and seriousness sometimes.  You have been trying to articulate questions to us lately about where God came from.  “Who made God?”  It’s something you’re trying to grasp and something that is certainly hard to explain!!  When we give you an answer, you respond, “I know but I mean, like, how….”  Your prayers at night are so thoughtful and amazing to Mommy and Daddy.  You truly believe right now that you can do anything that you want to do, and I don’t want that to ever go away.

We love you, Shelby girl!

Wordless Wednesday: A family hike at Mineral Wells State Park

 

 

Peck March Goals

March Goals:

J&M: Workout at least 3 times a week.
J&M: Dishes done before bed every night.
J&M: Straighten living areas and kitchen before bed every night.
J&M: No fast food.
J&M: Clean out garage and keep it clean.
J&M: Camper ready for camping.
J&M: Put extra $ into savings and not take it back out :) Continue no credit card spending. Stop spending on frivolous things.
J&M: (Weather permitting!) More outside living. More trips to the park, more bike rides, and playing in the backyard. (This one's really for me, I am not as good as Jeff at being outside.)
J&M: No beer (camping trip on Spring Break excluded)

M: Track food (WW Points) each day.
M: Lose 8 lbs (that's 2 per week!)

J: Get bikes tuned up and ready for camping
J: Fertilize yard and plant some seed in barren spots in back yard. Prune bushes.

WE can DO it :)