Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was mine and Brad's 5 year anniversary.  It feels like time has gone by so fast, but on the same hand it seems like we've been together forever.  It's hard to remember what life was like without him.  I couldn't ask for a more perfect fit for me.  He is a great man. 
You know probably my favorite thing about our marriage is just how happy we are together. And it's not like "a show" (you know how you think some people are happy together, but behind doors they are not).  We are just genuinely happy and in love and I couldn't ask for more. I love being in a marriage where you can completely trust your spouse, it is so NICE not having to have jealousy or trust issues in my life.  I feel like he's got my back more than anyone else, and he will do anything to make me happy.  It is so nice having a marriage that is not full of stress, but instead is one that makes you a better person.  I believe that is how a marriage should be.  A uniting of two people who are better together than they are apart. And I definately feel that way about Brad.
Brad has definately made me better than I was before.  He has this way of calming me.  I had some huge trust issues before I met him and I really didn't think I'd ever get over them.  But I jdon't have those issues anymore. Another thing that he has changed in me is that before I met him I considered myself a farely emotional person.  And now I am not.  I was thinking about it the other day and I really can't remember the last time I cried or that we argued.  I would venture to say I have maybe cried only once during this whole pregnancy.  And it's really because I don't have anything to cry about.  He just takes good care of me.  Don't get me wrong, I have my days where I'm strung out, stressed, or my kids are ripping on my last nerve. But I'm still happy, you know? I guess because those are just little things and little things are easy to deal with when you don't have any underlying issues.  To me that is a huge blessing. So I just want to say thanks Brad for making this the best five years of my life, I look forward to many more together!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. The girls are at such a fun age and it brings so much excitement to the house to see how excited they get over Santa Clause coming. We told Kayla that she had to sleep in until at 7:00 (I know I am so mean) because the other two girls are not early morning birds like her and I knew they would be grumpy during Christmas if they didn't get enough sleep.  Good thing we did let them sleep a little, because they were still out of it when we first brought them out!

Kayla had no problem jumping right into things.


She was so excited to get a new guitar and even more excited that it was pink!

Callie's favorite thing was the rapunzel tower that she got.  She really was super excited, I just didn't happen to catch it in this picture ;)

Kayla's favorite present was the Wii.  I don't think she was expecting it at all.  We have already had a lot of fun playing it with just the few days we've had it.

Brad sat and assembled every last peice of that tower before we headed to Grandpa's and Grandma's for Christmas at their house. 

Once we got to my in laws, we had a nice breakfast that they had cooked us and the girls ran around and played and opened presents.  Charlotte and Hailey playing peek a boo:

Our family:

Brad's brother Craig and his family:

Grandpa and Grandma got Callie a sleeping beauty dress and Jasmine outfit from the Disney Store.  She loves to dress up and was so excited because she didn't have these ones yet.

Charlotte playing in the hall:

Hailey got a new "bike" from Grandpa and Grandma and so did her cousin Charlotte.  They loved them, but would get mad every time they would see eachother on the bikes, because they thought the other persons was better, even though they were the same. Ha ha....

My neice Charlotte modeling the apron I sewed her.

Callie had to model once again for us once we got home.

Kayla even played an introduction for the "princess show" on her trumpet. (notice even Hailey put on high heels for the big event.)

Twas the night before Christmas...

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,
My children are not being quiet as a mouse.
All the Shelton men are in the woods hunting deer,
It's just us girls that are left hoping Santa is near.

The children are nestled on the living room floor,
Watching Santa Claus 2 with hot cocoa in store.
They'll soon be asleep and all snuggled in bed,
and sweet dreams of Christmas will float in their head.

We just wanted to say to everyone not in our sight,
Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

My birthday

Well I was a very spoiled woman yesterday on my birthday.  I woke up and Brad and the girls had made me a yummy breakfast of french toast, ham and eggs.  Kayla had decorated the dining room and made signs and she also cleaned the ENTIRE house for me (I didn't have to lift a finger!). 

After I opened my gifts, I found out that Brad had bought and scheduled a 1 hour pregnancy massage for that day! I was so excited, because I love massages and nothing is better than getting one when you are pregnant. He sent me here to the Rejuvenation Day Spa in Little Rock:

I got a head to toe full body massage and it was HEAVENLY.  After it was over, Brad was waiting in the parking lot and had a chocolate shake waiting for me.  I tell ya, he knows how to treat his woman;)

I had a great day and I want to thank everybody who made it so special.  Thanks for all the calls, gifts and also a special thank you to my mother in law who watched our girls all day while Brad and I ate, shopped and I got my massage.

Preschool party, mutual and Ray Christmas Dinner

On Friday my mother and father in law came over and watched Hailey so that I could go to Callie and Kayla's Christmas parties.  I went to Callie's first and got to eat lunch with her.  They had ordered pizza, so we were excited about that ;)  Callie loved getting to have me at school with her, it was the first time I've been able to come and stay since she started. 

This is her with one of her teacher's, Miss Nora.  She is very good with Callie. I have to mention a funny thing that happened.  I was sitting by Callie at lunch and Callie wasn't eating her food (like normal) and so I picked up her pizza and was trying to feed it to her.  Miss Nora came over and put her hands on her hips and said "What are you doing?!?"  "You know she eats just fine when you are not here."  I had to laugh at that.  She caught me red handed!  I am totally an enabler and that is probably why I always end up feeding Callie, because she knows I will.  So I am going to work harder this week at not doing that. 

This is Callie's other teacher Miss Lucia. She is soft spoken and sweet and Callie told me she really loves her because "she doesn't put me in time out when I'm bad."  Ha ha... I thought that was pretty funny.

This is the stocking that Callie's teachers made up for her.  It was almost as tall as she was!  All the kids were so excited carrying out their stocking full of goodies.

Next I went to Kayla's school, and I feel horrible but I forgot to bring in my camera.  They were having chicken baskets from the dairy bar, and although I had already had pizza, I thought what the heck I can eat lunch twice!  I am feeding two after all ;) It was really good.

This next picture is from Friday night.  We had a church potluck for Christmas, and during it some of the youth and the adults left to go Christmas caroling at the nursing home.  I'm so glad that we did, because it made my night.  There was one elderely lady (a resident of the home)  that walked with us and caroled the whole time, clapping her hands and just singing away.  It made her so happy to join our group that it really just made me feel good that she had such a great time. 

These last pictures are from Saturday.  We had the annual Ray family Christmas dinner in Lonoke this year.  The girls got all dolled up in their christmas sweaters and let me curl their hair, but of course I didn't get a picture where they were both holding still and looking up at the same time (and Kayla was still getting ready). 

Papa helped walk the girls around before it started while everything was still being set up.

I tried to get a picture of each of the tables.  This is the "young" group, mostly all cousins.

This table is some of Brad's uncles and aunts. Left to right is: Robert (Debbie's brother) and his wife Faith, then Jerri and Harold (Debbie's other brother and his girlfriend) and Evelyn (Debbie's sister).

This is Debbie's brother Ralph and his wife and kids.

Grandpa and Grandma Shelton

Uncle Ralph (a.k.a the "baby carrier"). 
Hailey figured out really early on that if she went and gave any of her uncles a hug and pointed to the door they would take her outside for a walk.  She sure knew how to butter them up.  It was pretty funny to watch how she got her way.

I tried to get a good picture of Grandma and Hailey.  Grandma looked good, but Hailey really just wanted to go back outside.

The girls each got a present from their great grandma Ray.  And the hit present of the day was Callie's rapunzel doll.  She has wanted one so bad ever since she saw the movie in Wyoming.  I just love the pose she gave me for this picture.

Sneaky little thing...

The other day I was back in my room (with the door locked) wrapping Christmas presents for the girls.  I heard Callie by the door say "I can see you, mom!" Then I said: "I don't think so...." doubting that she could see anything under the crack.  Well I kept wrapping away and forgot that she was there.  A few minutes later she says " Hey! Wrap that princess one next!"  I started laughing and told Brad "Surely she can't see me."  After all I was clear across the room.   So I pick up the princess toy sitting by me and she says "Yeah, yeah that one!"

Ha ha... what a little stink.

What we've been up to...

We have been very busy around here getting ready for Christmas.  We been shopping, baking, crafting, and enjoying all the Christmas things that have been going on this time of year.  We finally got the Christmas cards off and in the mail and all the neighbor plates of cookies done.  I have had a lot of extra time to do some more things now that Callie is in preschool and it has been nice having a little "me" time.  One of my projects last week was to make Christmas stockings with Kayla.  Of course it ended up taking a lot more time than I thought, because Kayla wanted me to "quilt" them.  And then after I finished the last one, I realized that we will have 6 people in our family not 5, and so I had to scrounge every last peice of fabric I had to make our baby girl one.  It is a little smaller than the others, but she will be our baby so I guess it doesn't matter.

One night last week while Brad was gone, me and the girls pulled Callie's mattress into the living room and had hot cocoa and watched the Polar Express. They love doing anything out of the ordinary like that.

Kayla also had her Christmas program for school last week.  She did a great job.  She was a reindeer in program.  You can see her in this picture right in the middle with the green antlers.

Hailey had fun jumping all over the bleachers and dancing to the music.

Kayla and her good friend Tiffany.

And of course Hailey had to steal sisters antlers once she saw them.


Last night Kayla went hunting with Brad for her 3rd time and she shot her second deer!  I couldn't believe it.  I think they are teasing me every time they call and say she shot one.  She really has a good little aim.  And I think she's probably the cutest little hunter I've ever seen.

Me busy making the Christmas stockings, I didn't even notice Brad was taking my picture I was so into my project.

Baby bump, late Shelton Thanksgiving and Santa

First off here is my monthly baby bump picture.  I am 27 weeks now and will be 7 months on Friday. Time is really flying and I am happy that I have still been feeling great.  I've decided that I am going to pull all the baby clothes down from the attic over Christmas break and figure out how I'm going to organize things. I don't know where we are going to put this baby, but I'm sure we'll make room ;) This pregnancy hasn't felt as real to me as the other ones.  I have a feeling they are going to put our baby in my arms and I'll feel like "Is this  mine?"

 I guess it is because with your first one or two pregnancies you don't have as much to occupy your mind.  So you read every baby book, notice every fetal movement, record every doctors visit and carefully weigh yourself each day, and all you think about is baby, baby, baby.   But by your fourth pregnancy, you wake up and don't even have time to register if your nauseous or not, because your other kids are saying "I'm hungry!"  "I need to go potty!" etc. etc. You don't have time to think about how you feel or how much weight you've gained.  But on the bright side, it does help the pregnancy to fly by like I said.  I know she will be here before we know it.

On to other things... we finally had our Shelton Thanksgiving.  We had it a little late this year, since we were in Wyoming and Craig and Jillian were able to come down this week.  It was so nice getting to see them, we

haven't seen them since we went to Walt Disney World.  It was especially fun to see Hailey and Charlotte play together since they are so close in age.

Saturday me and the girls headed up to Little Rock to do a little mall shopping and then we went to Toys R Us where the girls got to see Santa and decorate Christmas cookies.  I think they had a pretty good time.