So many firsts!!

Since I last posted, Shelby has celebrated her first Thanksgiving and her first annual trip to Birmingham to ride the Polar Express. Shelby LOVED her some Thanksgiving and without a doubt (and not shockingly either) her favorite was Mommy's sweet potato casserole. She also loved her some cranberry sauce...honestly there wasn't much she didn't love. Peyton loved Thanksgiving equally as well especially since some of his favorite people were here to play with him. My cousin and her family joined us and Peyton is in LOVE with her daughters. So a big thank you to Haley and Parker for keeping Peyton entertained all day. After Thanksgiving, we headed to Birmingham for our annual ride one the Polar Express. Peyton was even more excited this year (not a big surprise) and couldn't even be talked to as we waited to board the train. After all...meeting Santa at the North Pole is serious business and one cannot be bothered with silly questions like..."Peyton stand with Mom and take a picture." I love that little man. Shelby being good on the train was going to be a 50/50 shot. Since she despises riding in the car we weren't holding out much hope. To our pleasant surprise she was an angel. I'm sure it helped that Daddy held her the whole way and she watched all these little people acting silly on the train. If somehow I could recreate that experience in the car we'd be golden. ha! She wasn't bothered by Santa....she wasn't excited, but not scared either. I think she was more annoyed that we handed her over to a stranger. She'll love us for it one day. As usual, all the kids got a bell and ornament and of course the coveted chocolate milk and cookie. I seriously think Peyton was more excited about the cookies and milk than Santa. He's definitely my son. In November, Peyton also had his last soccer game. Sadly they lost, but you'd never know it. Each kid got a medal and Peyton is SO proud of it. Peyton also had his Thanksgiving feast at school. LOVED it!!! They had a short program before and he did a fantastic job singing. After the feast he asked me.."Mommy is Thanksgiving coming to my house because this was really yummy." hahahaha!! Sadly enough our Thanksgiving didn't consist of chicken nuggets and trail mix, but he enjoyed it just the same. And thats what we've been doing for the last month!!

Forgot to mention we bought our first real Christmas tree ever. Peyton picked it out....can you tell?

chocolate milk on the Polar Express

Mouth full of cookies

Shelby with her bell

Kainaan, Peyton and Shelby

My two sweeties with her bells

Mr. and Mrs. Claus!!

Peyton seeing Santa at the "North Pole"

Our conductor

She loves her brother!

Love this family pic!!

Waiting to board the train

Shelby waiting to board in her awesome new hat and coat

These next few pics are just me and Shelby having fun one day

Shelby has been clapping for months now...she's showing off here.

This is her "cute" face

Obsessed with sticking her tongue out these days

How big is Shelby? SOOO big!!

Best buddies!

Peyton, Haley and Parker going through the ads at Thanksgiving.

The princess eating her first Thanksgiving meal

TOTALLY forgot to write about the Monster Truck race Brad and Peyton went to. He has not stopped talking about it...Santa just may bring him a remote control one of his own.

Peyton and his teachers.

Our little Indian...I made his costume by the way. Just call me Martha.

Peyton with his Soccer Medal.

Time flies.....

when you're having fun! Sorry for such a long delay in updates, but honestly we have been spending our time enjoying our kiddos. Since the last post we have been busy with soccer games, a trip to the zoo, a Disney World "vacation", and more soccer games. I'm happy to report that Peyton just finished his first season of soccer...thank you Lord for putting us out of our misery. 8 weeks of soccer games, 30 minutes from our house and NOT ONE WIN. The bad news bears to say the least. Peyton has zero idea that they lost every single game because as long as his coach had a "prize" at the end of the game, he was a winner. Yesterday was his last game and each player got a medal. He was so proud. Last week we took the kids to Disney World. Great idea to go in late October right? wrong. 98 degrees every single day for a solid week. The good news is I have found my soul mate in Shelby because she hates being in the heat as much as I do. A lot of times we found a shady spot or an air conditioned building and hung out while Peyton enjoyed himself. Peyton loved riding rides even though he still is not tall enough to ride anything other than the "baby" rides. I think he most liked meeting characters....but that could be out of not being able to ride the big rides...seriously he was only like 1/2 an inch too small. It was heartbreaking for him and for the first time he realized he's short. :-( But leave it to my baby to always find the positive in a situation...he made the best out of it and had a blast. While we were there little Miss Shelby learned how to crawl. And if you've followed this blog long right about now you're thinking "didn't Peyton learn to crawl at Disney World, too?" Yes he did....and was about Shelby's age. So should we ever have anymore kids we know a visit to Disney World will ensure those children's crawling abilities. Shelby has grown up so much in the last few months. Last week she had her 9 month check up...she's in the 28th percentile and weighs 17lbs 11ozs and is 27 1/2 inches long....little I know, but what do you expect? I just don't have monster babies. Not only is she crawling, but she waves bye bye, gives kisses, says Mama, Dada and Bubba (although it drives Peyton somewhat crazy). Her latest and greatest is when asked "how big is Shelby?" she holds her arms way up and we all say "soooo big" and then she claps. it's awesome and I hope to get it on video soon. She LOVES to eat and will try most anything you give her. Against my better judgement, she and I shared an ice cream cone in Disney World. She literally oinked like a pig...it was great. Speaking of pigs...Shelby was a pig for her first Halloween. ADORABLE is all I can say. Peyton was Mr. Incredible...cute as always. We still have a nice stash of candy left....fortunately my kid is more of cupcake monster and not so much a candy monster...we'll trash it soon. And I think that catches us up for the most part. Peyton will have his Thanksgiving feast at school in a few weeks...pictures for sure to come. He's doing wonderfully in school...learned how to write his name, learned the pledge of allegiance and "You're a Grand Ole Flag". We're so proud of the little person he's becoming. If you've read this far you're obviously committed to this family so I won't let you down and leave you with pictures....hopefully it won't be the new year before I update again. hahahaha!! seriously though.

Mr. Incredible....incredibly cute!

This little piggy....

Our Halloween babies!

Peyton after he destroyed a Mickey Mouse ice cream...please notice the sweaty hair...yes it was hot.

After our Princess dinner at the Grand Floridian

Proof she can crawl.

Me and Peyton on the Aladdin ride....love his face. It's the "all the rides are broken, I don't really want to be on this one and why are you taking my picture AGAIN?" face. He loved it though.

Nana, Pop and the kiddos going into Magic Kingdom.

Us!

Our sweet babies in the Pirate Room...notice how happy they are here...pre sweatiness.

We did the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party our first night...Peyton loved it even though it was hot.

Before the Halloween Party...a very rare pic of Mom and Dad....alone.

hehehehe....she looks so unhappy, but it really wasn't too hot out at this point. it wasn't until we got into the park with 8 million other people that she was done.

Character breakfast at Ohano...the best!!!

Oh Brad...not one picture of us all looking at the same camera.

Love this one!

Day 1 and Peyton was already annoyed with the picture taking

Thats all for Disney...too many to post.

Shelby got a new fall dress so I had to have a mini photo session with her in the back yard. The lighting is terrible though b/c of the time of day.

The New Orleans Zoo

hmm....I think this was before we left for the zoo...proof she can clap.

Ok so now I'm realizing these are all out of order....this is Peyton showing off his new shirt from the zoo.

Family pic at the zoo

My little soccer player

Shelby at the zoo

My sweaty soccer player

My soul mate...it was so hot at this soccer game that Shelby and I had to take cover in the car...and now that I'm thinking about it I may have posted these in an earlier post. Oh well.