Random Shiloh Pics

Shiloh standing between our beautiful Texas Sage bushes out front. I just love it when they are in full bloom!!!

Shiloh is clueless!!! Poor thing can't play CLUE with Daddy, Mommy and Bubbies, so she asked if she could play by herself. Awwwww.
Shiloh wanted to dress up like Daddy. Listening to her imitating his voice was priceless!

Shiloh loves to paint. She is very serious about her masterpieces!

Shiloh had a blast on the water slide my sister gave to us. So much for trying to be modest with a one piece!! :)

My Little Pinkalicious

Shiloh recently received this book for her 3rd birthday from her great grandparents. I think we have read it everyday for the past couple of weeks!

It truly is a lovely tale about a cute little girl who obviously loves all things pink! But she soon discovers that being herself is even better than being pink.

A few days ago Shiloh asked me if we could make pink cupcakes, and I thought it was a grand idea. We had some wonderful momma/daughter time together.


Here are a few photos of our recreation of Pinkalicious cupcakes.

Shiloh is just beaming and so excited about starting our pink project!

What a big helper stirring the pink batter. Maybe a few licks, too!

Momma takes a turn to beat the batter till it's nice and fluffy!

She tried her little heart out at frosting the pink cupcakes. I think she just resorted to what was easier--licking the knife.

Mmmm, yummy! They're pinkerific!

I wish I would have had a cupcake tower to display these candylicious looking treats. Oh well.

I actually had some pink frosting left over from her birthday cake, so I was able to make the swirly design. I had such a fun time making these with my Sweet Sue!

When Royalty Pays a Visit

Princess Shiloh and Princess Kaiya graced my presence today. These 2 beauties are only 6 months apart, but Shiloh is so much taller!!


The princesses had so much fun posing for the camera, but mine wanted to give me the "I am so much trouble" look.
Wonder who she got the pouty pose from?

Oh my gracious--Is this not heart-melting? I didn't put her up to it either.

"Shiloh, don't put your toys in your mouth." "But mommy, I Popeye."
Nice, just what I need--a princess who smokes a pipe!!!

Oh, The Classics!

Shiloh played her first game of Candy Land with mommy today! That little stinker beat me twice!!

Is there any one who hasn't played this all time favorite board game? I remember playing it as a kid, and now I have played it with all of my kids. I am thinking about getting all sentimental and saving it so I can one day play it with my grand kids.

Board games are a family favorite around here, and right now the boys are in to playing CLUE with Daddy. Mark and I used to play the video version of CLUE when we were dating. That was a fun game--I wonder if they have it on DVD, now? It would be much too complicated for the boys, now, but maybe in a few years?


Board games really do bring families together, don't they? Let me pause while I wipe the tear from my eye.

In all seriousness, do you have great board game memories you would like to share? Let the nostalgia begin!!


*My grandpa and I used to play SORRY! when I was a little girl. Those were fun times!

*My friend, Sara, and I would play Master Mind for hours on end.

*I loved playing Parcheesi with my mom as a kid, and as an adult, I love to play Boggle with her. If she just weren't so darn good at it!!

*I absolutely loved the game, TABOO, and would play it with any group I could get my hands on.

*Life was always a family favorite. Boy, has that game had a makeover! We bought the game to play with our kids, and I must say it is a wee bit different.

My Baby's Three!!

Good morning princess! I can't believe you are already 3!! Seems like yesterday when my water broke right as I was slipping under the covers for a good night's sleep. Needless to say, I slept not a wink that night. ;)


We let you open your first present very early on Sunday, June 22 just before Daddy walked out the door to lead worship at church. Yea! A Hello Kitty DVD. Now you will be completely occupied while Mommy gets herself ready.

We were so glad Paw and Cece came to visit the weekend of your birthday! We are all ready for church, and you are so excited about your party that will take place after a good nap.

After church you got to open your presents from Mommy and Daddy and Paw and Cece. Lots of My Little Ponies from us, and Dora galore from Paw and Cece!

Later you had a fun My Little Pony Swimming party. It was so fun having a party with 4 little girls!! This was your first party with friends!

Mommy made you a My Little Pony Cake with some of your mini My Little Ponies.

Happy Birthday Hon Bun! I love you and hope you had a wonderful day!! I look forward to many more girly birthday parties.

Bean Makin' Baby

Helping Mama make refried beans the old fashioned way! You know, sorting, soaking, simmering, and here she is stirring. We added salt, paprika and garlic powder, too. But no lard and other yucky stuff. After one taste, I couldn't keep her from eating them off the spoon!

Spreading mixture on tortillas. No, they are not homemade. That is the next food project on my list since it is so hard to find truly healthy tortillas in stores. Can somebody please make some without hydrogenated oils!!!

Next she sprinkled cheese, and then I popped them in the oven for a few minutes.

It is so nice to just be "mom" for two months and not teacher,too. Gives me time to spend doing fun stuff like this with the kiddos. It was great mother/daughter time. The boys were outside with the neighbor kids. Gotta love summer!!

Diaper Doozy

Let me just start out by saying I am thankful for 2 things right now: Changing tables and bathtubs.


So, my daughter decides to change her own poopie diaper today.



Yes, I was horrified, but we all managed to survive.


Seriously, she'd only been out of my sight for about 5 minutes. I had to finish washing lunch dishes. As soon as I was done, I headed upstairs to get the kids ready for rest time, and, oh my goodness, that's when I was met with that most dreadful sight!

Her diaper was off and she'd already used about 10 wipes. For a moment I didn't know where to begin. We are not talking a convenient little patty here; it was a mess. Some was on the wall, some on her clothes, and it was smeared all over the diaper changing table. It was gross, but I haven't even shared the best part yet. With her free hand she was taking her passy in and out of her mouth. That hand had POOP on it!!! I was trying my best to remain somewhat calm and still drive home the fact that she was to never do that again!!

Thank goodness she had sense enough to do the dirty deed on the changing table and not on the floor!

I bet some mommas out there are so relating to this!! If you want, feel free to share your worst diaper nightmare with me. :)

Shiloh's New Hobby

I guess she's found something creative to do while I am teaching Lincoln. She was so very proud of herself, too. Really thought she'd accomplished something important!! Now these are the kinds of messes I can handle. Doesn't require a sponge, a mop, or replacing the carpet or something crazy like that. :) Well, as a matter of fact it is a mess she can clean up all by herself, and I don't even have to go back and do it over.

Of course after I snapped the first shot, she begged for more pictures to be taken of her. That's my girl!!!

Momma's Model

This beauty likes to ask to have her picture taken now. And she poses. I guess she comes by it pretty honestly. When I was just 7 or 8, I knew with all my heart that I wanted to be a model when I grew up.

I chased the dream for quite some time by taking several years of modeling school, which I know cost my parents an unbelievable amount of cash! As a teen, I even became a member of Dillard's teen board where I would get to do fashion shows and freeze modeling and such. I got paid around $10.00 an hour, which was a lot of money back then. Hey, it was more than I make now!!!

As I got older I figured being an actress would be even more fun, so I took some acting classes and got involved in drama at school. The very first play I was in was Noises Off. Talk about a difficult role or really 2 roles to play! One of my favorite memories was getting to go to New York as a freshman in high school and see some amazing performances on Broadway! As far as my acting career though, well it came to a dead end.

Obviously God had other plans for me and pretty much closed the doors with the words, MODEL and ACTRESS on them. Instead he opened the GET MARRIED AND HAVE KIDS door.
Oh well, that is okay. As we all know, there aren't exactly many Christian actors and actresses, and models these days, well, don't really model clothes now do they?

Before the Clock Strikes Midnight

Shiloh, I love you girl, and I think about you every time I hear this song. I am a teary mess by the end.

Even though you are still in the "passy" and diaper stage, I know our time together is short, and before long it will be midnight. You are growing up so fast. You are beautiful. I am glad to be home with you every single day watching you grow up.

Anyone Can Cook!

We were delighted to surprise Shiloh with her very own kitchen on Christmas morning! She loves it! And even though she's not a rat living in Paris, she cooks up some good eats!
She likes to "talk" on the phone to all of her grandparents, and she has more than most kids so that is a lot of talking!

Most of all, though, she likes "cooking" for her Care bears and Cabbage Patch Kids. She loves to bring daddy coffee, too. Her "bubbies" are so sweet to play with her when she asks them to.

I love watching her play. I am so glad we were able to buy this for her. Lots of great memories will be made here!

Just Look At What The Cabbage Patch Kid Has Left Me!

By looking at the picture you would think that we have a doll that can actually poop. Thank goodness we don't, but my daughter thinks that her fake Salisbury steak is supposed to go in the doll's diaper instead of her oven!

Gelid Temps

We actually had to bundle up about a week ago when we all decided to take a walk around our block to look at Christmas lights. I just couldn't resist taking yet another picture of this cute thing before we strolled through the neighborhood--look, her passy even matches her pants!:) It was a lot of fun until we came home. Shiloh threw a horrible fit b/c she did not want to come in.

We may not be snowed in or anything, but it has been pleasantly cool here. The night temps have been freezing, and we have had to turn the heat on so Shiloh's room doesn't turn into an igloo. (Heat only comes on when it gets down to 67--I don't want to roast to death) I love being able to actually use covers at night and wear long sleeves during the day.

The leaves on the trees are finally changing colors here. It is still weird to see it happening now instead of in November. Better late than never!

Advice Please!

I have been looking for bows and I am not having any luck!! Help! See the bow in Shiloh's hair? Where can I buy some that are just like that? I did find a site online, but the bows there were priced at $4 per bow. That is too expensive for my budget. The one in her hair came from Chocolate Soup, which is a store in Memphis. Their online store didn't have what I was looking for. I really wanted a brown bow for this Sunday, but I guess it is too late for that.

I went to Michael's today in hopes of finding some ribbon and what I call "alligator" clips, but they didn't carry the clips that I wanted. I was planning to attempt to make my own bow and hot glue it to the clip.

I haven't really ever been a very crafty person, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!! I need new bows to match fall clothes!!

Thanks!

Looking For Fall in All the Wrong Places

My heart aches to see the beautiful colors of Autumn. My search has been in vain thus far.




Nope, not here. Summer flowers are still in bloom.

Not here either. And this is the tree in our backyard that is supposed to change colors. I guess this happens much later here in the desert.

I found no sign of Fall while out in my backyard. I could have stayed out and gotten a really nice tan, though.

These 4 beautiful, orange pumpkins and rust colored mums adorning our front "porch" are the only visual clues that fall has actually arrived.

At least the temperatures have fallen a little and have given us some relief. It is nice to be able to open the doors and windows in the mornings.

Pitiful

I am supposed to be enjoying a day out with my mom and my kids at Schnepf Farms today, but my sweet little girl woke at 4 something this morning with a fever. I am missing rides, food and fall fun, but at least my boys got to go. I guess I will mop and do chores, that is, when I am not tending to the princess. Having sick toddlers is NOT fun.

"Amen!"

Out of the blue the other day, while still in her high chair, Shiloh folded her hands, bowed her head, and began mumbling something only her Creator could understand. It was so incredibly precious, and I tried to hurry quietly to get the camera before she ended her toddler prayer. But just as the camera caught the moment, she arose and shouted, "Amen!"

I pray she accepts Jesus as her Savior at a tender age! I am so thankful that both of our boys have!

Deo Gratias!

Toddler Shopping

This morning Shiloh came down the stairs announcing that she was goin' to Fry's. (For the southern folks that would be the same as Kroger)

The day will come too soon when I will be asking her to go to the store for me. Maybe by then she'll have a better sense of style!!! A body wrap and a veil sounds good to me!!

Homemade Cuteness

This post is for you, Mom! You know Shiloh loves her MawMaw!!
Shiloh is beautifully modeling an outfit that I used to wear. It is very sentimental since it was made by my mom.
Shiloh loves to hear the phrase, "Do you want me to take some pictures of you?" It is so cute to watch her make her trip around the backyard and stop to pose beside each plant.
Oh my goodness, her expressions just make me melt! I love this girl!
She just can't refrain from doing a few big CHEESES!

Skillet Girl

Now, you would think that something this prissy and precious would go around the house singing "Jesus Loves Me" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb or one of the many other kid songs that children usually love to sing. No, no, not our Sweet Sue! Throughout the day without any given notice, she will just out of the blue start singing with all her heart, "Rebirthing now I want to live my life....." and she will try to sing all the rest of the words. It is sooo incredibly cute, but I do find it interesting that that is the song she always picks. She also gets excited about David Crowder, but she never breaks out in chorus with any of his songs.

When I am in the car with my kids, which isn't a whole lot or anything, I usually turn Air 1 on, and every time the Skillet song, "Rebirthing Now" comes on I turn it up b/c I like it. That is the only time I listen to it since I don't have their CD.

Well, while I am on the subject of Skillet, I guess I will share another story as well. Since I have no fame of my own I am one of those people that have to tell the kinds of stories like I am about to tell...

John Cooper, Skillet's lead singer, went to the Germantown, TN school where my mom used to be a secretary, and she would always talk about the talented Cooper boys. One time I went there to see some kind of talent show or something that John was in--I think he was in 8th grade. After that I begged my mom to get a picture from him, and she did. So, me a silly little middle school kid, carried around a John Cooper photo in my purse. If only I still had that picture!! I had no idea he would become famous!! Man, I could have sold it on ebay or something for a bunch of $! Ha, ha!! Just kidding. My high school friends and I even went to the same church as John for a while. (It wasn't my home church, but a friend's) We also went to see he and his band play a few times (before he got famous), but I have to admit, I was a fuddy duddy even in my younger days and the music was a little too hard for my taste. But I do love his current stuff that they play on the radio. And Shiloh seems to also!!! Maybe Mark can get her to do it on video sometime.

I have another claim to fame story,but that will be for another day...