Beautiful Brylan the Birthday Girl

Five years ago today, we were blessed with a most precious gift- our little Brylan Paige. I couldn't imagine loving her more than I did on that day, but as she grows I love her more and more. She has the sweetest spirit and a great sense of comedic timing (that she did not inherit from either one of her parents). She is so loving and giving. She makes me smile and laugh all day every day. I love hearing her sweet voice telling her long stories and watching her expressions as she tells them. I love her creativity and joy when she plays.  I love seeing so much of myself and Jeff in her. I can't believe one little person has brought me so much joy! Happy Birthday beautiful Brylan Paige!

A Very Special Christmas Surprise

Our old pug, Zig, died last March and our little family has missed him so much. Jeff and I finally decided we were ready for a new dog and we knew that Christmas was the perfect time to add a new family member. I was convinced we would find a perfect pug by Christmas, but it never worked out. After doing a lot of research, we decided to look at Golden Retriever puppies. We found the perfect little puppy and decided that Santa would bring him Christmas morning. Well, Jeff and I are horrible at surprises. There have not been many Christmases or anniversaries that we have been able to wait until the actual day to give each other our presents. The little guy stayed with us this weekend while Brylan was in Muleshoe and we just couldn't stand to send him to my brother's house when he was just getting adjusted to ours. This afternoon we decided we couldn't stand to keep the secret any longer. The puppy, with a bell around his neck, ran in to Brylan's room and woke her up from her nap. I was so excited I could barely stand it. Brylan was a little shocked at first, but in 2 minutes Bry and the puppy were running circles around the living room. Santa Claus even left her a letter telling her that the puppy would get to cold in his sleigh Christmas Eve night, so he delivered him early. She is crazy about the little guy. Mickade isn't sure what to think yet. I am so excited to watch the puppy and our kids grow up together. Brylan told me tonight that her heart has been sad since Ziggy died, but now her heart is happy again. That statement and the happiness she gets from loving this puppy will make the inevitable long nights, chewed up shoes, and messes worth it. Stay tuned to find out his name! We are hoping to talk Brylan out of her first choice, Jingle Bells.

Sweet Christmas puppy with his bow

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Action shot! Two living things with boundless energy should get along very well.

They were finally still enough for me to get a decent picture.

Sweetness

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Fun Videos

I shot a few videos about a month ago that just have to be shared. One of is Mickade trying his first taste of green beans and the other is Brylan making him laugh. They were shot on my old phone so the video quality isn't great, but they are precious. Enjoy!

Randomness

I have been waiting to write a new post until I have something exciting to write about, but instead I thought I would blog about anything and everything that is on my mind today.

I spent last week celebrating my "birthday week" as my dad calls it. I went out to eat, went shopping, got some great gifts from some of my favorite people, flowers from Jeff, and an iPhone 4s from my parents! I love, love, love my birthday!

We had a great weekend. Jeff's whole family was in town for a benefit for Chris and Shayla to help them pay for cancer treatment. They are blessed with amazing colleagues who organized the benefit. Please take a minute to pray for Shayla today and tomorrow. She has surgery tomorrow morning at 9:00. Her blog address is shaylashelburne.weebly.com. You can read about her cancer fight in more detail there. Meanwhile, my lucky parents were at game 6 of the ALCS. I am not that big of a baseball fan, but it was hard to contain my jealousy while watching the game from my living room. After everyone left we spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and being together with just the 4 of us. Time with my precious little family of 4 is the highlight of my week.

The rest of this blog post is just an excuse to show of the latest pictures of my precious babies. Mickade turned 5 months yesterday. We took his 5 month picture but he was not in the mood to smile, which is weird since he is the happiest baby I have ever seen. His nickname is Little Boy Full of Joy. Yesterday the joy was not there, but the picture is still cute.

Brylan has decided she needs to be a photographer as well as a vet when she grows up. She walks around taking tons of pictures with my camera. I never know what I am going to find when I decide to go through my pictures. Here is some of her best work.

Still life photography is a favorite of hers...

But she is starting to take photos of human subjects as well...

It is so fun watching your kids begin to interact, but today the little photographer decided to photograph her subject right after he woke up. The way his expressions change with each picture is so funny.

I have some funny videos of the kids to upload later, but this crazy windy weather is slowing my internet down! I don't want to end this post without a picture of Brylan so here is a lovely one of her in her daddy's boots.

Shayla's Cancer Fight

Recently, my family was shocked and devastated to learn that the lump my sister-in-law, Shayla Shelburne, found in her breast was cancerous. We couldn't believe it. She is a 31 year old momma of a 3 year old and wife. She is healthy and takes good care of herself. It is just something you never expect to happen to someone so young.  Shayla and her husband Chris (Jeff's older brother) immediately began seeing various doctors to try to come up with a plan to fight this cancer. Throughout this ordeal, Shayla has been amazing. She has been positive and her faith has never wavered. She has been strong and gone about her normal life. After I read her latest blog post, I just had to share it with as many people as I could. Her faith amazes me and the words she says are a lesson for everyone, in every one of our lives, no matter where we are and what we are going through. You can read her story and see the example of her amazing faith at shaylashelburne.weebly.com. Please take a minute to pray for Shayla, Chris, and Brenley. This is just the beginning of this journey and the road will be long, but with faith and prayer Shayla will come through it stronger than when she started it. She is constantly on my heart and in my prayers and I hope she will now be in yours too and that you will be as inspired and amazed by her faith as I am.

The Shelburne Family- Shayla is in the red jacket.

Adventures in Mommyhood

This year marks my third year of working part time and I decided this is the year that we are going to be more scheduled and productive. For example,Tuesday is ALWAYS Chick Fil A Day. Here a some pictures from Superhero night.

Mickade and Gma at Superhero night. Yes people, that is my Grandma. I hope I got her genes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Every other Wednesday is library day. I am also reinstating Thursday Baking Day...an old favorite of ours. Monday we went to the zoo. Mickade was really enthusiastic about the trip as you can see by his expression.

Bry with the snakes. Photography is not one of my talents.

I wanted a picture of both of my angels, but at this point Kade was FINALLY asleep so I didn't want to take him out!

Not that excited about the zoo...it was naptime!

My little storyteller even tells me stories while I am taking pictures. This one was about the lion.

 I have even gotten pretty crafty lately. I did some amazing things with leopard print and houndstooth wrapping paper to the entertainment center in our living room and yesterday I made a Halloween wreath with my mom, sister in law, and my special helper Brylan. My college roomie and sweet friend Amie Turnage, the craftiest girl I know, will be so proud to know a little of her skills rubbed off on me.

We have good days and bad days, exciting days and laid back days, but I wouldn't trade a single hour with these two amazing little people. I am so blessed!

Here we go...

\I never thought blogging was for me, but lately more and more people I know have started blogs and I love it! I love hearing what is going on in their lives and I love that my family and friends far away can see photos and videos as well as hear stories about my children. What momma doesn't want to show her kids off as much as possible?! Plus, Jeff is out of town so much that I need some projects to keep me busy when the kids aren't. I also need to put the MacBook Air I told Jeff was an absolute necessity to good use.

This week I decided to start a classroom blog. My kids love using technology and nothing gets them excited about learning like putting a new piece of technology in their hands. How can I set up a classroom blog and use if effectively if I don't have a blog of my own? Well, now I do. I don't know how exciting this blog will be or how often I will post, but here we go! 

To make this post a little more interesting let me tell you a little about what we have been up to lately:

Mickade Hall Shelburne was born May 16 to a very proud big sister, mom, and, dad.

We spent most of our summer sleeping when we could and taking care of a little guy with a huge appetite!

We managed a few family walks but the size difference makes pushing a stroller tough.

This was Mickade's first time in the pool and he loved it.

Our little girl turned in to quite the fish this summer. She learned to swim! She ended up in private lessons because she couldn't focus in group lessons. She wanted to twirl in the water, tell the teacher stories, and wave at mommy.

We spent a few days in beautiful Cuchara, Co.

Our wonderful summer ended, but I am such a lucky Momma that my little angel girl gets to go to Preschool at my school every day!

I included this picture because it's adorable and there is a hilarious story that goes along with it. Brylan was having so much fun laughing and calling it a "Pegasaurus (meaning Stegosaurus) sandwich." I ran to get the camera to capture the sweet moment. Right after I snapped this picture, Mickade spit up ALL OVER Brylan...in her hair, on her neck, and her clothes. Brylan cried, but I had a great laugh.