Happy New Year!

Danelle - this is for you! :) Thank you for the rocking horse ~ Shelby loves it.

We all had a round of the stomach bug but I think we are over it now. Ready to welcome 2011! We'll probably just sleep...but we'll be excited in the morning. :) Happy New Year to you all!

Christmas!

Sunday night we had a Christmas party with some friends which helped to put us in the Christmas spirit since the weather wasn't helping. (It is in the 80's here today.) Last night we celebrated Christmas Eve with homemade pizza and a movie. Today we celebrated Christmas and we have been having lots of fun. We ate breakfast together ~ Josh and I had our homemade cinnamon rolls and Shelby had a scrambled cheesy egg. Then we read the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Then...presents and here are the pictures.

We let Shelby picks which present to open first.

Once she opened this dress she did not want to do anything else. Watch the video below...

Giving the doll on the box a hug. haha She loves the stroller!

Shelby with all the loot.

As soon as Josh finished putting the stroller together Shelby pushed it and her doll all around the house. Her polar bear got a ride, too.

Shelby loves the silky dress!

Thank you all for the presents! We did help Shelby open the rest of them, after her silky dress, and she loves them all!!! For our Christmas dinner we grilled a Peppered Pork Tenderloin, and made broccoli and mashed potatoes. This afternoon we made candy coated pretzels (again). YUM! Tonight we hope to watch another movie together and enjoy our leftovers.

We hope you all have a blessed Christmas on Saturday!

Lots of pictures

We have posted a big update on our Picasa site ~ lots of pictures!

Check them out here: http://picasaweb.google.com/hamfam03/ShelbyOneYearTo18Months

We are celebrating Christmas Eve today and we'll have Christmas tomorrow. Shelby already opened presents when Grandma Mary was here and she is enjoying them. Shelby received an Aquadoodle (see picture above) and loves it! (Thanks guys!)

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Grandma Mary's visit

Grandma Mary came to visit for a week and Shelby really enjoyed all of the attention. We went to the park one day, we played outside in the sandbox, we went to the library and we hung out at home a lot of the time. Our neighbor was kind enough to let Mary stay in his house, since he is out of town; so Mary had a nice place to stay that was close by. Grandma Mary brought Shelby several Christmas presents and Shelby loves them all! I do think that Ollie the elephant is her favorite.

Thanks for the visit, Grandma Mary!

18 months old (Dec. 7th)

Shelby, there are so many things we love about you! Here are a few ~ We love...

• how happy you are to see us each morning
• how sweet you are playing in your crib in the morning
• how you say "Hi" to us (and everyone else) all throughout the day, as if to say "Don't forget about me" or "Do you see me?"
• how you like sitting on the step in front of our house
• how you try to wink
• how you try to say "I love you"
• how you try to go potty
• how you hug us
• how you grab our face and give us kisses
• how you hold your baby dolls and "shush" them
• how you love to read
• how you dance and spin
• how you love to pray with us - before a meal or at bedtime or anytime
• how you hold our hands and bow your head to pray
• how you say "Amen! Amen! Amen!" at the end of saying a prayer
• how you say "bye bye" to everyone
• how you "walk" on all fours
• how you imitate animals sounds (owl, cow, dog, cat)
• and how you like us doing animal sounds (monkey, donkey, horse, sheep, etc)
• how you say Please and Thank you and All done in sign language, while trying to speak it as well
• how you sweep the floor and wipe your highchair tray
• when you are ready to eat you go to get your highchair
• how you talk on the phone so well
• you playing with technology - cell phones, iPods, computers, etc
• the way you talk: mama, daddy/Josh, ball, b (for blanket), trash, YES!, No
• the way you rock on your horse and how you love rocking chairs
• the way you hold you arms up to be tickled
• love, love to hear you sing!
• how cute you look in pigtails
• how you stretch with daddy

You also like to watch Veggie Tales a lot. You love to eat grapes and fruit in general. (You were every sweet helping yourself to grapes at the grocery store last Monday.) You love to play with rocks and play at the park. You are very good at rocking on the whales. It is so nice that you understand just about everything we say to you. You play very well with other kiddos. You like to close doors. You like to start the dishwasher. You like to help cook. You like to help mommy with the laundry. You like to jump like crazy in your crib. And you like to jump on mommy and daddy's bed. You are doing very well at getting on the bed and the couch and chairs by yourself. You can go up and down stairs by yourself. You like to have a pretty bow in your hair. You have 14 teeth that are all the way in and two more that have been slowing working their way in. You love to throw things in the trash and ask "trash?" You are more interested in feeding yourself and you are doing a great job!

The picture above is from opening presents with Grandma Mary. Shelby loves her new stuffed animal, Ollie the elephant. We'll do another post with more Grandma Mary pictures later.

A few more pictures of Thanksgiving fun

Emily and I (Sharon) had fun playing Dominos one day while the rest took naps. We actually ended up using all the pieces.

Can you see them up on the hill, hiking? Josh took everyone hiking while Shelby napped and I stayed with her. They had a great time.

Shelby loves to read, so she enjoyed everyone reading to her. It was super special to have Grandma here!

I thought this was so sweet ~ Shelby just looking at Grandma.

We had so much fun!!! Then we cleaned for a week and now Grandma Mary is here!

Fun with family and a wonderful surprise!

Adam, Kim, Emily, Nathan and Abigail got here Monday night. Oh the joy that fills my soul! It has been so great having them here!!! We have really been enjoying the kids playing together. Shelby LOVES having her cousins to play with all the time. And they enjoy entertaining her.

Adam is a crazy uncle that has been turning most of Shelby's books into crazy songs. Shelby just sits there and stares at him. It is pretty cute.

I didn't think things could get any better and then yesterday my mom showed up!!! She drove down from Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with us! Josh and my mom had this all planned out and I found out about it (oops). But we kept it a surprise for the Bonus family and that it was! We are all enjoying some wonderful time with Grandma!

We were not expecting to see Josh much today, but he has today and tomorrow off for his weekend! What a blessing! It has been complete with him here.

We made the pies last night, late. :) And we made a wonderful, yummy Thanksgiving dinner today; we ate around 1:00. Now everyone is off hiking the hills while Shelby sleeps. In fact, I think I'll join her. :) When everyone is back we'll have the pies! Pumpkin, cherry and apple. OHHH! Adam and Kim brought Sheridan's custard from Dallas for us! So we'll have that to enjoy with our pie. YUMMMMM! Yes, they totally rock, because not only did they bring vanilla custard, but they also brought me a pumpkin pie "blizzard" from Dallas! (Dry ice works great!) Sheridan's takes a real piece of pie and mixes it in with the custard. It is scrumptious!

Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us family. We praise Your Name and lift You up!

(There are lots of pictures, but this is a good start. The Bonus family is planning to leave on Sunday and my mom will probably leave on Monday. So we'll post more pictures later.)

We hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are wishing you were here Dad! And the rest of our family. :) Love to you all.

DIRTY!

Today Josh helped a friend who is building a house here in Sanderson. Shelby and I stopped by on our walk this morning and ended up staying almost 2 1/2 hours. Shelby had a great time with the other kids. I wish I had my camera there, but here are the pictures from when we got home.

The mornings here have been very nice and calm; however, by noon the wind picks up. As you can imagine, an open lot creates a lot of dust. Toward the end of our time at the lot Shelby sat down in the dirt and started playing. After chasing her all over the floor of the house, trying to keep her from falling off the 4 foot drop-off, I let her play in the dirt. She loved running her fingers underneath the dirt and lifting her hands up so that the wind could blow the dirt off. But then something would get in her eyes and she would take those unclean hands and rub them all over her eyes and face. There was no stopping her. She also enjoyed putting the dirt on her legs and shoes, as well as anyone else's shoes that she could reach. It was fun watching her play!

We walked back home just after 2:00, took some pictures, took a shower, and put her down for a nap. I made zucchini bread while Shelby slept and we headed for Bible study this evening. It was a fun day!

Just wanted to share

Shelby is so stinkin' sweet. The other day she was playing with these bottles, trying to stack them. It was so precious. Very soon she will be 18 months old and we can hardly believe it!

My sister-in-law

If you don't already know about it, I'll tell you now! :) My sister-in-law, Kelly Griffin, has a new blog and it is great! I hope you can check it out: http://www.fru-gal.org/. It is about "frugal living for the grace of giving."

What it looks like

Just over a week ago we found out that Josh's friend from high school, Owen, has been in San Angelo, TX for about seven months. He is in the Air Force and was in school/training for those months and he is leaving for Colorado this week. Josh had Wednesday and Thursday off and so we headed up to San Angelo to meet up with Owen. Wednesday evening we had a nice (yummy!) dinner with Owen and a few of his friends. Thursday morning we were going to hang out with him again, but he was not feeling well (flu) and didn't want to pass it on to us. So, we started our grocery shopping early. Since we were in a big town we had planned to do all of our shopping and space it out over the two days. Wednesday we found shoes for Shelby and a few other little things. Thursday we did some "dry good" shopping before lunch, then ate at Chick-fil-a, then did the rest of the grocery shopping and headed home. We got home around 7 :30 and were in bed before 10:00 PM! What a trip! I'd have to say that we are all getting a little sick of Chick-fil-a - never thought I would say that. haha

So....here is what it looks like when we go grocery shopping 3 hours away and for 3 weeks worth of meals. This trip we had 3 coolers of cold/frozen food with ice and dry ice. Our turkey stayed frozen and we are happy about that!

Shelby was tuckered out!

Josh is a very good packer.

And I am embarrassed to even think about what we paid, considering my sister-in-law who is very good at shopping with coupons! One day (probably when we live in a town with stores and go shopping more than once every 3 weeks) I hope to be better at being frugal and using coupons as well. :) We love you Kelly!!!!

We'll be having Adam & Kim and their kids here for Thanksgiving and can hardly wait!!! Josh and I are just hoping we bought enough food. :)

It's rented!!!

Last Friday we had a lady come and look at our condo. Lori, our Realtor, showed it to her anticipating a sell. Turns out Maggie "just" wanted to rent it. So Monday morning Maggie looked at another place and decided to go with ours. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!

Thank you all for your prayers!

Black olives

Shelby loves black olives! But she was not so sure about putting them on her fingers. In fact, we hardly got all five on and she was about in tears.

But once she tasted them she was fine. Now when we hand her an olive she points her pointer finger so that we can put it on her finger for her to eat off. So precious.

She did it!

All by herself today Shelby climbed right onto the couch/ottoman! We were so glad to see this as it was the first time she has really attempted to climb and she did it! Of course she wanted to see the video as soon as she was done. :) Good job, Shelby!

Favorite Outfit

This is my favorite outfit that Shelby is wearing these days (ok, one of my favorites). I just love the little leggings. Shelby had fun playing with the pumpkin and having her picture taken.

The weather has been nice in the early mornings and at night. We are still getting up into the higher 80's during the day. I love the brisk mornings ~ going on walks is much more enjoyable.

We received a great package today! Thanks to Russel & Zoey for the jam! It looks so yummy; we can hardly wait to dig in! Shelby likes PB&J which is great because I do, too.

Our friend, Danielle, is due with their 3rd child on Tuesday, 10/19/10. I can hardly wait to find out if they are having a boy or a girl! They have two boys right now. Pray with me that she will have a girl and that she'll have the baby on Tuesday!

Just playing

Shelby was so cute playing this morning with her baby and her dog.

Shelby peed in the toilet!

Just before I put Shelby in the shower with Daddy I put her on the toilet and she peed!!! (Clear, Aunt Kim - aren't you proud!?) We have attempted this several times before, but today she actually did it.

Good job Shelby!!!

10-10-10

Seven wonderful years ~ Happy Anniversary Babe!

16 Going On 17

16 months old today! Here she is sporting her new tennies and Bass Pro hat.

Shelby is really starting to show her little personality more and more. She loves music and dancing to it - especially to the band at the football games. Barking is her favorite animal noise to make, but dogs are only neat from a distance or stuffed. She was knocked over by a couple of excited dogs at the park the other day. There was no harm done, but it definitely scared her. Now she just shakes her head rapidly (saying no) when dogs start to get too close. Soon Shelby will have 16 teeth, so she has been a little fussy during that process, but she is still a happy little girl who likes to pick up any little piece of lint and ask "Trash?" and proceeds to throw it away along with anything else that we ask her to toss. Shelby also loves babies and she can "Shush" her babies very well while patting their back. Shelby is a very good whisperer which is soooo cute!

---

We took a trip to San Antonio over the last four days. We had so much fun! We were able to stay with Matt and Jessica again, which is always very nice. Shelby loves Jessica and she was sort of getting used to Henry, their bulldog. Shelby also had fun with Matt, saying "Hi" to him all the time and giving him high-fives.

This is on the way to the Riverwalk.

We walked around the Alamo as well as the Mission San Jose. This picture is taken at the Alamo.

And a trip to San Antonio would not be complete without a Riverwalk boat ride!

Thanks Matt & Jessica ~ we had a blast with you guys!

We of course did LOTS of shopping and eating out. We were actually sick of ice cream by the last day, can you believe it!???! Ok, not really, but we did have plenty of it over the four days. Josh and I celebrated our seventh anniversary (which is Sunday, 10-10-10!) one evening by going to a movie! Matt & Jessica stayed with Shelby as we put her to bed and hit the town. It was a fun, late night. Our Christmas shopping is almost finished and we really like San Antonio!

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Splish splash

Summer is still here in Sanderson. But luckily Grandma Mary got this pool for Shelby and we finally broke it out today! Shelby had a blast in the pool. If you look close you can see Josh and me and the umbrella in the reflection of her sunglasses. We had a nice time outside in the 90 degree weather.

On another note, Josh made some DELICIOUS ribs today that we partook of at lunch. YUMMY!!!

Our Favorite Candy

I have had a lot of different favorites in my day, but right now my favorite candy is Lindt Lindor Truffles. YUM!! Milk Chocolate is the best! But they are all good (milk, dark, white and cookies and cream). Josh is on the same kick, which is nice. And Shelby likes them, too. :)

50 degrees!

It was a very nice, cool 50 degrees this morning! Josh and I were so excited to open the door and get a cold draft of air coming in. So the windows are open and Shelby and I just returned from a walk! At 10:40 AM it is still only 68 degrees.

Thanks for the summer, Texas, but we are READY for the FALL!

The Kitchen

We spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Partly because it is the main room in our house :) and partly because it seems that someone is always hungry. Today we made cookie dough for our Bible study tomorrow night (we'll bake the cookies tomorrow). We made Oatmeal Raisin and Snicker-doodle cookie dough. Shelby was a good helper. Sometimes it means there will be more to clean up when she is helping me - ok, all the time! - but it is fun and she is learning. Such a sweetheart!

Worth the drive

Shelby and I (Sharon) left Saturday and drove to Dallas to celebrate Emily's 9th birthday and spend the week with the Bonus family. We got back yesterday evening (Friday the 10th). The drive there was about 8.5 hours and the drive back was 10.5 hours. But the week sandwiched in between was wonderful!!! We went swimming twice, had a fun birthday party, read some books, went shopping, ate out, went to Zumba & a DTS/ST ladies night (Kim & I), relaxed, stayed up late...so much fun!!!

Thank you ~ Adam & Kim, Emily, Nathan, and Abby for a wonderful week! Shelby had a blast with you all! What a special time it was. We look forward to doing it again, and hopefully Josh can come next time.

To make them laugh...

I found out how to make Mommy and Daddy laugh...I just call Daddy "Josh"!!

And she says is very clearly! The past three days she has been saying Josh instead of Daddy and we have been having a good laugh at that. So we know that I, Sharon, need to start calling Josh Daddy. :) Hopefully Shelby will catch on.

We went to Kerrville, TX for my birthday and it was a quick trip. We stay at the Inn of the Hills and Shelby liked the couch in the lobby.

She just wanted to stay sitting there. The restaurant folks could see out into the lobby and they were laughing at how cute Shelby was being, just "relaxing" on the couch.

Shelby has been doing a great job leaving her sunglasses on her face so we had to get this picture. We got a little dressed up and went out for dinner. One of the best parts of the trip was that there is a Culver's in Kerrville, so we had a couple of treats over the two days we were there. :) YUM!

Thank you for a great "weekend" Josh!! I love you so much!!!

Playing

We got back from our walk this morning and Shelby had a great time just playing in and with her stroller.

Her lip seems to be getting better. She still isn't eating very much - she only wants fruits and "treat"-type foods, so we are working on that. I guess it was just over one month ago that I posted Shelby eating real food all day. She does well with breakfast, whether it is cold cereal or oatmeal or waffles or french toast. The rest of the day is the problem. We love her anyway! :)