Thankful for...(almost) rolling over

So, Shelby will roll back once I roll her over, but she doesn't yet have the initiative to do it herself. She is super sweet none-the-less. Enjoy!


And she fell asleep on my bed the other day. When I went to take a picture she smiled!

Thankful for...Cousins, Sitting, and Spitting

We had a nice "normal" Sunday yesterday before we take our long trip to NM and TX. Keziah (2 1/2 years old) was playing with Shelby so we put Rizpah down with them as well. Believe it or not...Rizpah is 11 months and weighs 17 pounds where Shelby is 5 months and weighs 18 pounds!! Shelby is a big girl! And Rizpah is very petite. Happy 1st Birthday to Rizpah next month, on December 4th. And Shelby will be SIX MONTHS OLD! Crazy how much she has grown and how big she is getting.

We are so excited to go see Daddy! He'll graduate from the Academy a week from today. Yippee!! (Then eight weeks of Spanish, but we try not to think about that.) With Thanksgiving and Christmas we are hoping that the next two months will fly by. It will be so nice to be living under the same roof again.

Shelby is doing a very good job of sitting up by herself. Here she is sitting in her crib looking at me in the mirror. She is so sweet! We are loving her laughing and giggling.

And her spitting is so much fun! Last night she was hungry and tired and she just kept spitting to keep herself from crying I guess. Try to ignore my voice - I was on the phone with Josh at the time. :)

Thank you to my grandpas and so many others...

Thank You Grandpa Ron and Grandpa Wink for serving our country!!! I am so glad to be living in a free country. And I am so proud of you, Daddy, that you are protecting our borders. I am so glad that I am your daughter.
Love,
Shelby Elaine

Thank You to the countless other men and women who have served our country and those who are serving now. To the families that support these men and women - Thank You! Your sacrifice is greatly appreciated.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy 30th Birthday, Daddy!!!

Sorry you had to get sprayed with OC today...but we hope besides that you have had a great day!! We wish we could be with you. Less than 2 weeks and we will be with you - and you'll be finished with the Academy. Mommy and I are so proud of you. And we love you so much! Did you have a candle to blow out today? :)

Thank you to all who sent my daddy a card and/or an e-mail for this big birthday!

Ok, two teeth!

Well, Shelby actually has two teeth coming in! Can you see them? :) She is five months old today and is such a big girl! Her spirit continues to be sweet and I am really enjoying that.

Just two weeks until we head to NM for Josh's graduation from the Academy!! We are very excited for graduation, but not looking forward to the eight weeks of Spanish. God has brought us this far and He is in control, so we keep pressing on. We still aren't sure what we'll be doing for Christmas and New Years but we have some time to plan that.

Our condo is staged and our Realtor held an Open House today so we are praying that something will come from it. Please pray with us that our condo will sell this month...closing before 11/19 would be great!

Keep serving Jesus!

Less than 5 months old...

Can you believe that Shelby got her first tooth!?!?!? Monday, November 2nd Shelby Elaine cut a tooth on the bottom. I could hardly believe it as she bit down on my finger as she usually does and this time it hurt!

Shelby has been in 5 states already...Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Colorado is obviously where we live. Nebraska - we took her there back in July to see Josh's grandma and extended family. New Mexico - where we got to see Josh while he is in training, as well as a visit to Los Alamos to see my grandparents on the way to and from seeing Josh. Texas - we visited Sanderson, then we visited Luke and Alexa in Lubbock (and we hope to go to Dallas soon!). Oklahoma - we just drove through Oklahoma as we went from Lubbock to Eaton but that still counts!

And she loves to watch other kids play. I have noticed it on Sundays when she watches Aislyn, Keziah and Rizpah. As we packed the condo she loved watching Vivian dance around.

At the Howard's she loved watching Emmalyn and Oliver jump from the couch to the Love Sac. Such sweet laughter! And then we found out that she'll laugh at anyone who is being silly. Luke kept making a funny noise and then danced around a bit and she giggled and giggled and giggled. It was so precious! Another funny thing was that I would say to the kids that Shelby really liked them and Emmalyn would say "But she likes me more than Oliver, right?" So cute!!!
(I can't figure out how to load the video onto my parents Mac, so here is just a picture of Shelby with the Howard's for now.)

Oliver, Luke, Shelby, Alexa & Emmalyn

We're back :(

Well...the trip down on Saturday was great! And we had a wonderful time with Josh on Saturday evening and Sunday. We went to church with Josh on Sunday morning which was fun. Shelby and I left for Lubbock around 3.

Then...I talked with Kim and found out that her kids have been sick with some sort of flu bug. So we continued on to Lubbock to stay with Luke and Alexa. Monday morning we talked with doctors and determined that it would be best for us to come back to Colorado instead of going to Dallas. We are so sad to not be with the Bonuses right now!!!

We left Lubbock Tuesday morning and made it home in 9.5 hours - Shelby is such an amazing traveler!!! And she is such a sweetheart!!! She slept all night last night and after a bath this morning she is taking her morning nap.

So...we'll head down to Artesia for graduation and Thanksgiving, then head to Dallas for the month of December as originally planned. We continue to pray about Kim's job and where the Lord might be leading. And we are so thankful for a wonderful time with Daddy and with the Howards...more to come on that later. For now we'll enjoy the Fall in Colorado and finish packing up the condo.

Thank you Luke and Alexa and family for letting us stay with you for two nights! It was wonderful!!!