Hi, I'm Shalon....and I'm a mom

Like most other mothers, I'm guessing, I go through every day just doing business as usual and do the things that mom's do without even thinking about it....take kids to school, make sure clothes are clean and try to get dinner on the table at a decent hour. But every so often there is something that hits me like a bolt of lightning and makes me think 'wow, I really am a mom'.  This happened to me this morning as I was trying to get everyone ready and out of the house:

• I remembered that Jansen has Tee-Ball practice tonight, so I thought I should throw something in the crockpot for dinner...prior to kids, I NEVER thought about dinner before I  had had the chance to eat breakfast!
• Then while I was cooking the brown-sugar glaze to put over the ribs in the crock pot, I figured I'd throw the few dishes from the sink and start the dishwasher. Dishes before work ALWAYS make me feel very mom-like.
• Then as I was reaching for something out of the pantry, I noticed the pile of towels and wet bathing suits from swimming all weekend piled up on the floor and threw them in the washer so they'd be ready for the dryer when I got home tonight.

Crockpot - Dishes - Laundry....all before 8 am. Hi, I'm Shalon and I'm a MOM!

Isaac's 2nd Birthday

Shannon and I have been so blessed with wonderful In-Laws and extended family and the fact that all of our families are so accepting of each other. This past weekened we celebrated Shannon and Bobby's nephew, Issac's, 2nd birthday. They had a bounce house at their home and everyone had a blast - even the adults!!!

Isaac and his mommy, Janis

Kennedy, Jansen and Zack (Isaac's brother)

Kennedy and Jansen ADORE Zack and he's such a good sport with them!

Hudson in the Bounce House -

His shirt says 'Lock up your Daughters'. It cracks me up every time I see it!!!

Bounce House buddies!

Me and my babies!

Me and my boy

Our favorite girl!

Kindergarten Round Up!

Yesterday was Kindergarten Round Up/Registration for Jansen. It's so hard to believe that she is ready for Kindergarten....how on earth did we get to this place????? When she was born, Kindergarten seemed soooooo far away, yet here we are now. It is sad and exciting at the same time. She is beyond thrilled to be going. Last night while Michael and I filled out paperwork and learned about the school and procedures, Jansen went with her fellow classmates to a Kindergarten class and had story time and did a craft. When they asked the kids to go with them, she was the first to jump and run to the line...she didn't even say goodbye or look back at us! I love that she's so excited and ready to go, but it was hard to see her walk away from me like such a big girl without a moment's hesitation. This is going to be so much harder on me than her!

Here she is in front of her new school - Yale Elementary. It is just down the street from us, in our neighborhood and is ranked as an Exemplary school. We are so lucky to have such a great school right in our own neighborhood!

Spring???? Maybe not....

Supposedly yesterday was the first day of Spring. Well, I guess Texas didn't get the memo because we had a semi-snow storm last night and it feels more like January! The kids played for a while, but it was so cold they came in before I got to take any pictures of them. The dogs loved it, so I got some pics of them and then of the kids enjoying some yummy hot chocolate!

Milestones

Milestones for the kids are always bittersweet. It's amazing that they have accomplished yet another amazing feat, but at the same time it is sad because it shows how much they are growing up. This morning Hudson went pee pee in the potty for the first time. Jansen, Michael and I were all in the bathroom with him (most things with us are a family affair!) and we cheered for him like he'd just won the superbowl...there was clapping, dancing, jumping and candy and he was so proud of himself...he even went to school and told all of his teachers! While the prospect of not buying diapers is very appealing, a little bit of my heart broke this morning as my 'baby' turned into a little more of a big boy. That being said, I am so proud of him - WAY TO GO HUDSON!!!!

Charge it!

A little Jansen funny from yesterday...

As I was paying Jansen's gymnastics tuition yesterday, the lady pulled up  our account and told me the total due was $69. Tuition is $65, so I asked her why there was an extra $4 due. She told me it appeared that there was a $4 charge and pulled it up. Turns out that the last time Jansen went there for Parents Night Out, they let her charge $4 worth of snacks!
Anyone who really knows Jansen also knows that she is the 'Snack Monster', as we call her because the girl LOVES snacks. God help us now that she apparently has a line of credit at the Gymnastics place and knows how to use it!

Adult Night Out!!!!

Mike and I never forget that mommy's and daddy's need to have fun of their own! This past weekend we joined a great group of our friends at a local bar to see a band called Poison Cherry. They're an 80s cover band and they are GREAT! They get totally into 'character' with the big hair, ripped jeans and groupies. It's always a good time!

We had a little funny when we told Jansen we were going out:

Me: Jansen, you're going to have a babysitter because daddy and I are going out tonight
Jansen: Where are you going? Can I come?
Me: No, it's just a place for mommy's and daddy's
Jansen: Oh, so they're going to have WINE there??!!!

She cracks me up!!!!!

Me and Mikey!

Oh yea, I still got moves!

Sisters!!!!

Some random guy jumped in the picture. Check out Bresha's face!!! I LOVE it!!!!

Ice Princess

Jansen is ever the adventurer and loves to try out new things. Her latest endeavor is Ice Skating. She's taking lessons at the Galleria and is in week 4 of 6. I can not believe how good she is! She is definitely the best in her class (if I do say so myself!) A future Michelle Kwan, perhaps???

On the Ice!

Waiting to skate

Can we skate yet??!!

Look at her go!

She's got skills!

And down she goes!

Earrings!

Jansen has known for a year that whenever she wanted to get her ears pierced, she could. She hasn't been all that interested, but this weekend she decided it was time. The whole family packed up and went to the mall where she picked out some beautiful Hello Kitty earrings! She cried a bit for the first pierce, but was a champ with the second one.

After she had it done, she told us 'I got my earrings just in time for kindergarten!'. She is killing me!!!

She is so proud of them and shows them to everyone we see. She's growing so fast and is such a big girl!

Just because they're cute

Some recent pics of the kids. I love these two so much!