ICE CREAM!!

Lately, I have been struggling with little, everyday battles with Shayne. It was getting to a serious point of frustration. When I talked to my mom about it she reminded me of the importance of positive affirmation and suggested a chart and stickers to keep track of her good and bad choices. I really didn't want to encourage the bad choices by allowing stickers for that so we came up with just the "Good Choice Chart". We went last weekend to the dollar store and got lots of stickers and some poster board. Then I went to work and made the chart. There were 5 rows of boxes on it with 10 boxes in each row. At the 10th box in each row I outlined the box and Shayne and I came up with 5 prizes or goals that she could work towards. The first one was to go to ice cream. She made 10 good choices this week to get to go to ice cream and she's been so excited about it. And of course her brothers were pretty excited too, they got to benefit from it as well.

My Princess

Shayne and I were invited by our friend Camille and her family to attend a princess party for all of her neices last Friday. Shayne was so excited to go when we finally dropped Gabe off at my sisters she started singing happy birthday to herself cause she thought thats just what happens at parties. She had so much fun and they all put so much work and effort into it. It was really wonderful!

Pouring the tea...

Putting the tea back... to pour again...

And taking an occasional sip.

She was the only princess that insisted on serving her own dessert!!

My favorite princess!

PRINCESS TEA PARTY!!!

All the princess' at their table enjoying the company and the "tea" or lemonade. It was so fun. They each had their own tea cup and saucer and all these cute little snacks, and the best part for Shayne was that she got to have her own pot of lemonade and was able to pour it into her cup herself... which she did more than any of them, back and forth. They all looked like real princess'. It was such a good time. Thanks so much to the Heywoods for inviting Shayne she had such a blast with her new friends.

Bronze Beauty

OK, so last December Shayne went with my parents to my sister's for over a week. While she was there her two cousins got into my sister's makeup and made a huge mess, it was all everyone talked about for a couple days. I remember when they told me over the phone I held my breath as I asked if Shayne was involved, and I was so very very relieved that she wasn't. I also remember thinking "thank heavens she's not into the makeup thing." Apparently I forgot to knock on wood or something to that effect because karma came back on me this last week. May I introduce my bronze beauty... ugh!! Now lets just hope this is the last time for this kinda thing. (as I knock on wood profusely... ha ha ha!)

MILESTONES!!!!!!

Payton has just cut his first two teeth! This means a couple of things. First that he's crankier than usual (not shown in pictures). Actually he's still pretty delightful but just a little grumpy due to the pain. Secondly this means that I'm done with breastfeeding... and just in time. I'm not the type who really loves it, though I wish I had done more with my other two. But my goal with Payton was six months which we passed at the beginning of may. Hooray!!

Enjoying the sunshine

Shayne Elizabeth

Gabriel William

Payton Michael

Big Boy In The High Chair

We had to use a few things to prop him but this was his first experience in the high chair like a big boy. He's just starting to be introduced to solids and he loves it. He's so ready for this stage.

Cousin PJ party

GOOD PEOPLE, GOOD FUN, AND GOOD MEMORIES!!!

Some of the best memories in life come from times with our true best friends... family!

Precious Moment...

The dinner was great but the entertainment was even better. Gabe was, of course, up on grandpa's lap getting bites and being his usual self.. then when the bites weren't coming at his desired pace he took over for grandpa and managed the fork. He was still kind enough to share grandpa's steak with him though.

More fun at grandma and grandpa's house...

Loving the country, grandma and grandpa, and the freedom to run and roam!

Silly Uncle Jordan

There is one word to describe this picture of uncle Jordan... Awesome!

Grandma and her flowers

Grandma taking care of her flowers. She'll love that I put these pictures of her on here... but what are daughters for anyway!

Playing with "blowers"

Remember as a kid how many of those little plants you picked and blew all the seeds away in the wind? Well, all it took was showing them one time what to do and they had a blast for quite a long time. They call them "blowers" for reasons that seem obvious enough.

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