Birthdays and Snow days

We celebrated the kid's birthdays in January. Jacob turned 4 and Maggie turned 2. They had a great time eating cake and opening presents at their party. Thanks to all who sent birthday wishes!!! We love you.

This is a shot of Maggie's initial voyage on her scooter. I hope she'll be a pro at it by summertime.

The coolest gal on the block eating her breakfast...

We've had more snow/ice this winter than in years past. It seems Tennessee is either hit with a major snow/ice storm (as in 2004) or gets nothing. Brent has been out of school for 5 snow days this winter...unheard of! Here are some shots of the kids getting ready to play in the snow.

The snow had a layer of ice on top so it wasn't the greatest for making snow balls, but Jacob was obsessed with learning how. He and Brent had a great time pelting me with snow balls.

Otis has a new perch in the back yard...our picnic table.

Our little snow man...

Brent took some time to put hardware on our cabinets in the kitchen...makes such a big difference. Below are the before and after pictures...please excuse the messy cabinets : )

Brent also celebrated a birthday. Here are some shots of him opening his cards and gift.

He really likes his new Ariat boots...

Time is passing so quickly. Maggie has decided she's ready to potty train so I figured I'd better jump on board. Can it be that she will train herself? She is amazing and asks to go on the potty all by herself. She's not fully trained yet but is doing VERY well : ) I had a few shots of her on the potty to put up but unfortunately, they were a little risky to put on the internet. I can't believe that it was just this time last year that I just finished potty training Jacob and now Maggie will be trained soon. I don't know if I'll know how to function without diapers : ). Of course, that is a good thing, but it just reminds me that my precious kiddos are growing up faster every day. Jacob is doing so well in his preschool class with Ms. Lisa and will be going to a formal preschool in September (2 days a week). Little Maggie talks like there is no tomorrow. We are enjoying our time with them and are treasuring every day. I am sad to see them leave the "baby" stages but look forward to the future with them. Thanks for letting me gush a little, Elaine.

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The kids were excited about Santa visiting and we had a great time seeing our families over the holidays. Below are some pics... Grandaddy with Jacob and Maggie on their Christmas present...the jungle gym.

The Shelton grandkids with Nana on Christmas day.

This is a shot of Jacob and Maggie seeing the gifts Santa left them.

Here they are on Christmas Eve leaving cookies for Santa.

Emma, Maggie and the J man at our Murphree Christmas celebration.

My two little reindeer.

Here's Jacob singing in his first pre-school choir at church. I was smiling like a big dork the whole time, I was so proud.

Here we are getting ready to decorate ginger bread men. The kids mostly ate their decorations before we could even get them on the cookies.

It's true, I'm the worst blogger mom ever!

Once again, it has been forever since my last post. We've been busy with Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping and other random excuses : ) But I have finally gotten around to posting some pics...so enjoy! Over Thanksgiving we attempted to get a shot of the entire family. Here's one for the scrapper, but I thought it was a good example of John and Brent being goofballs. : )

This is a pic of Jacob showing off his new hair cut. It's already time to get him a trim!

Here's Maggie showing off a pretty dress from Nana.

Ahhh, Maggie sitting on her potty. She has done a few "things" in the potty, but nothing on a regular basis...mostly because I'm not focused on training her right now so it's still sort of fun and new to her. I'm sure as soon as I get serious about training her she will completely rebel and not step foot near the potty.

Jacob loving on Nana.

Here is the kids' Christmas present from my mom and dad....JUNGLE GYM! Sa-weet!! Shout out to the guys who broke their backs to get it in our back yard!

Jacob's inagural climb up the jungle gym.

My grandparents got to visit on their way back from a wedding. In this picture Jacob was educating Pawpaw on volcanoes...a topic he (Jacob) is quite knowledgable about.

Granny holding Maggie...Maggie won't let anyone read to her. She insists on holding the book completely by herself. She opens the book up, turns one page and says, "the end!"

Wonderful news! Lauren and Clint got engaged on Thanksgiving morning. This is a pic of them right after the engagement as they came to my parents to show off her ring. Yea for them!!! Wedding to be in May of 2010!

I couldn't resist posting this adorable picture of Maggie and my dad. On a side note, most everyone thinks my kids are true Sheltons...which they are for the most part. But, check out Maggie's cheeks compared to my dad's...I've always thought that both our kids have our cheeks. Don't laugh, I'm being serious!

Here's a shot of Jacob coloring on our chalk board...we're supposed to count down the days to Christmas, but I just let him add his own touch. On another note, he wrote his name for the first time this week at Mrs. Lisa's. ALL BY HIMSELF! He's a genius.

Mom bought the kids some sticky ornaments that are supposed to be placed on windows. Well, mom, they stayed on the windows for about five minutes before the kids got them back down. Maggie proceeded to shred them to pieces over the next several days. Sorry!

What's taken so long???

Well, in answer to the above question, I'm just plain lazy. No, my camera isn't broken (for those of you who have wondered). I have been taking shots of the kiddos, I just haven't been downloading them. So, prepare yourselves for a feast of random shots of my children. I won't take the time to narrate for each one, so you can make your own crazy assumptions about what was happening with each photo. Love to all!