13

I have been blessed with 13 years of marriage to my awesome husband. Cheers to us!




Shelley

Christmas!

Ahhh Christmas! Yay!!!

First we celebrated at Nana and Papa's with the cousins, aunt and uncle! Including a football game!


Christmas Eve Grandaddy and Grammie came down to spend the day and night with us! We opened gifts from each other and just enjoyed being together. Poor Annie and daddy were sick, but by afternoon they were doing better.






Santa came! Christmas morning...


Then we went to visit more family...




And ended the day as usual...


Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Shelley

The Polar Express!

Annie got to be a dancing elf for The Polar Express train show this year! She had a wonderful time doing 26 shows over a 7 week run. I think the best part for her was hanging out with her dance friends and cousins!




Shelley

When he doesn't leave this spot...

...all day long.




You know he's sick. :(

So cute though!

And all better now!

Shelley

Honor Choir!

Ellie was SO thrilled to make Honor Choir this year! She's had a great time singing with a great group of kids, and it's been so good for her.

The big concert...


Ellie and Elaina!


It's dark, but she's there singing at Big Cedar Lodge! Grammie, Grandaddy's and Gma came!





And at the school assembly...


Soooo proud of my girl!

Shelley

Christmas Dance '12

The Christmas dance show was extra good this year! Both girls danced and did a wonderful job!

Ellie with her clogging class...






Annie's ballet class...








Annie...so beautiful.






Shelley

My Fam

Love 'em all!

Shelley

Celebrating Jen!

I love my friends, and I love any excuse for a girls night out! Happy bday Jen!


Shelley

Babies!

We loooove Jacob and Tripp!








Shelley

Christmas... A little early!

We celebrated Christmas with my family a little early this year. It was a beautiful, fun day!
The obvious highlight was getting to play with da babies! Annie was never far from them! :)







We had fun making our own little flower arrangements for our place cards, having a delicious meal, opening gifts, and playing dirty santa! And face-timing with Lane and Christian!










It was so beautiful outside we went out to get some pretty pics. Great day!
Shelley

Family

Family is a special thing. The kids love seeing their great aunt Bev and her little dogs!


Shelley

Special times

These are special times. Times to form bonds and memories. I love seeing my kids enjoy spending time with my grandparents, their great-grands. We're blessed to live close to them all!




Shelley

Lauren!

Lauren came down to hang out with me for the day! Love my cousin! She stayed with me through all the school pick-ups and drop offs, and the kids had a blast seeing her as they came to the car! Fun times!


Shelley

Santa Night: Final Take

We had a great time at our 3rd and final Kindergarten Santa Night.

*sniff





Love this sweet school tradition.

Shelley

Tradition

The tradition continues!

Christmas at SDC...



Shelley

Amazing

This girl is Amazing.


She has come so far. So incredibly far.

4 short/long years ago, Ellie was a first grader getting ready for her spring concert. She cried through the practices, couldn't stand on the risers for long, and agonized over finding a "comfortable" white tee shirt to decorate in art class for the show.

We were in the midst of testing and diagnosing her sensory processing problems at the time. We were novices, and knew so very little about this huge burden our daughter lived with.

We learned though, and now there's so much I understand as I look back. I know that singing in a group overwhelmed her auditory senses. I see that standing amongst a group of kids overwhelmed her visual senses. I know that trying to do the simple arm motions was not-so-simple for my girl who had very little body awareness. And wearing a new tee shirt felt like sand paper to my tactile-sensitive daughter.

Four years later. Four years of countless Occupation Therapy sessions, an Autism diagnosis, Autism therapy, Language therapy, social skills groups, and many prayers led to...

Tonight.

When my fifth grade daughter stood happily on risers. Sang beautifully in a choir she chose to audition for. Wore a shirt issued by the school without complaint. And did all the motions beautifully as she sang.

I fought back tears as I watched her tonight. I know all the parents in the audience were proud of their kids, but I was suddenly overwhelmed by amazement at how far Ellie has come.

One step at a time. One hour at a time. One day, one week, one month, one season...one year... Finally. I see the results we have been working so hard for.

Thank you God, for that blessing.

Shelley

Gingerbread Time

I failed as a mother last year, and never got around to letting the kids decorate a gingerbread house.

And I was good with that.

But this year we found the year-old kit in the clutter and mess as we pulled out the Christmas boxes, and I had no choice but to cave to the pleading and begging of my three Christmas monkeys.


We did it!

Shelley

Sister-Friends

My Janelle. She is my friend, but more than a friend. She's my "I can tell ANYTHING to" person. My sister-friend.

She's not my only one either.

Yes, I'm abundantly blessed!

Together we planned an awesome party to celebrate sweet Janelle...




Happy Birthday my friend! You are awesome!

Shelley