2011 in Review

Wow!  2011 was a busy, wonderful year!  Over the last 12 months, Andrew and I both turned 30, we got ourselves two official toddlers, as a family, we visited 8 countries, Andrew went to New York to see the Yankees and I traveled to Boston to see my Red Sox, we swam almost every single day during the summer, and a special blog became a part of our every day lives.  We laughed a lot, loved a lot and felt tremendously blessed the whole year through.  Here's a quick review...

January

On the 18th, Smith William turned one year old!

 February

After 21 months, in February I got my braces off :)!!  Not going to lie...probably my favorite moment of the year.  This is me on February 8...the big day!

 March

We were happy when Spring came and played outside as much as possible!

 April

Andrew turned 30!!

 May

Kensington got her cottage at Lovie and Papa Jay's house.  It's her home away from home.

 June

Our family went to Bermuda for a week where Kensington got her wish and was able to swim with the dolphins.  We had so much fun!!

 July

With record breaking heat, we swam almost every single day with our friends.  These are memories I'll cherish forever.  Love you girls!

 August

Dad and I made our annual trip to Boston to see the Red Sox play two games.  I love Boston.  Love it.  I love my Dad even more though :).

September

In September, we took a trip of a lifetime with my parents and grandparents.  The 8 of us spent two weeks traveling through England, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Russia, Finland and Sweden.  It was such a blast...I'll carry these memories with me forever.

 Also in September...

...Kensington Kate turned 3 on the 15th!

 October

I turned 30!

 November

We spent November celebrating the holiday season with lots of love and laughter (and plenty of Starbucks and shopping!).

 December

It's hard to believe December has come and gone.  What a wonderful Christmas season we had!

2011 was fantastic!  I am so excited to see what's in store for us in 2012.  I know for sure that there will be two trips to Boston plus a trip to the most magical place on Earth...stay tuned.  The Shull fun has just begun...

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Shull Family Fun Day!

I have a confession to make...Andrew and I took down all of our Christmas decorations (including all 3 trees and outside lights) on Friday, December 23.  I know.  I put the decorations up at the beginning of November and remove them before Christmas day.  Here's why...we left Friday afternoon for my mom's and knew we wouldn't return until Christmas night, so we wanted our house clean and "mess free" so that we could enjoy Andrew's day off on Monday.  I am sooooooo glad we did it.  Yesterday, was Shull Family Fun Day :).  (Not take "down the decorations day"!).



The 4 of us showed up at the mall at 9:45...we had some things to exchange (something I bought my Grandmother for Christmas was broken in the box, so I had to get that rectified at Williams-Sonoma ASAP!), we walked around and then ate lunch at The Cheesecake Factory.  My kids were so good at the mall.  I mean, they were seriously super, super sweet and easy going the entire time we were there.

After lunch, we came home and the kids napped for 3 1/2 hours while Andrew watched a movie and I blogged stuff...did laundry...just messed around the house.  When they woke up, we went back out to eat (I know!  Mix and Match Mama was off yesterday too!) at Manny's in Frisco for some Mexican food.  Then we all went by Starbucks where Mommy and Daddy had cappuccinos and the kids had a cookie.  It was cold and drizzly and we enjoyed every moment of being cozy together.

I love Shull Family Fun Days!

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Our Christmas

So, here are some pictures of our Christmas weekend.  We stayed Friday thru Sunday at my parents' house and had THE BEST TIME!  We did lots of fun Christmasy things, ate a ton of yummy food and laughed a lot.  It was a very special Christmas.  Thanks Mom and Dad!



My kiddos and me on Christmas Eve morning eating breakfast at Lovie's.  So excited about the day ahead!

My Grandmother and my girl.  Love you both!

Me and Andrew :)

This was Miss Paisley's first Christmas!  She loves her Uncle Andrew!

Brooke and Austin...getting married May 26th :)

My two guys...Brandon and Sean

This picture is kind of blurry but best represents all of us opening gifts...a 3 year old, 2 year old and 1 year old plus a hyper dog equals our gift exchange :).  We are so blessed to have little ones...it gets kind of boring with just a bunch of adults opening gifts!

This is what Santa brought on Christmas morning!

My kids were soooooooooo into it when they woke up!

She's thrilled!

And he's blissful himself!

After brunch, we took the new scooters out to the park,

And of course, Kensington had to walk the dogs.  She thinks she has this situation under control.  I'm not quite sure she did :).

I hope you had a blessed Christmas too!!

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Jammy Cocoa Christmas

Every year, we do "Jammy Cocoa Christmas" with my parents.  This means you put your pjs on, climb in the car, go to Starbucks and get goodies and then look at lights.  We've been doing it since we were married but it's even more fun with our kiddos!



Super excited!

Dad and Me in our jammies

Me and Mom (Andrew was driving...didn't take his picture but he was there too!)

So fun!

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Undies

Someone got himself some big boy undies...

He LOVES them!  I only let him try them on and wear them about 2 minutes (long enough for me to take pictures).  The week after New Years, we're going to pray hard and then launch into potty training.  Right now, I'm just brushing up on my 3 Day Potty Training book, praying, talking to Smith about using the potty, praying, begging Kensington not to tell him any of her bad habits, and praying some more.  In the meantime, enjoy the undie photos.

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Accidental Happiness

On Friday, we accidentally went to the Frisco Square Holiday Lights.  We were coming home from dinner and saw all the fun, so we stopped.  I am soooooooo glad we did!  The square is decked out with lights that "dance" to Christmas music being piped in through your car radio and/or on the sidewalks around the square.  The 4 of us went into the Candy/Popcorn store where Kensington picked a piece of peppermint bark and Smith picked white-chocolate Oreo covered popcorn.  We sat on a bench watching the lights and eating our snacks (every time I ate some of Smith's popcorn, he'd say "no Mama" in his sweet little voice.  He didn't want to share his popcorn with his Mama.)  As we were leaving, we spotted Santa and the kids hopped on his lap to repeat for at least the 8th time what they want for Christmas.  As we were taking this picture, it began to "snow" off the buildings...that's what Smith is pointing to.  We had the best Friday night!

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Kensington's first Christmas program

On Tuesday, Kensington had her first Christmas program at school.  Her class wore little puppy dog ears and sang their songs.  It was so sweet.  So sweet.  She waved at us, she sang her heart out, she was precious.  I know the teachers worked so hard to produce the program and it was well worth it.  We were beaming parents.  It was hard to get good pictures but here are two.  Love my girl.



As a side note, here's a little secret about Shay you don't know.  I used to be in the church choir.  Yes.  I could sing.  When I was 20, I was cast as Mary in our church Christmas musical and had to sing a big solo to a live baby at each performance.  (It was my rock star moment in life!)  My parents came to all 5 performances and my dad came to almost every single rehearsal.  I thought it was sweet and everything but didn't really "get" it until this past Tuesday.  I would go back and watch Kensington sing her little songs 5 times if I could.  Being a parent and watching your kids do something special is just the best thing ever.  Ten years later, I finally get how proud my parents were of me.  Thank you Mom and Dad.  And PS: last year, when the doctors took my tonsils out, they took my singing ability out as well.  It's a good thing they watched me when they did because trust me...no one is going to be asking me to sing any time soon.  :)

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Merry Christmas,

Love,

the Shulls

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