First Fall Day (well...sort of)

It's beginning to look like fall around the Shull house...here are just a few (I spared you all of them) examples.

Yesterday it was rainy and cooler (like 98 as opposed to 108) and it sooooo felt like fall was on the way.  The kids and I went to Hobby Lobby, Target and Home Goods.  Then we headed off to Kensington's gymnastics class.  During our errand running, sweet Sheaffer texted me to see if we wanted to meet on the square for lunch.  I didn't think I had the time but she convinced me I did.  And I'm so glad!!  We met her and Carter for lunch and it was the perfect ending to our wonderful morning.  I totally stole these pictures off of Sheaffer's blog.  Thanks Sheaffer!

 Kensington and Smith love them some Carter Sims.  As these two held hands and walked down the street, I commented to Sheaffer funny they look together.  They are only 5 days a part but my child is on the "tall" side of the scale and Carter is on the "not so tall side".  We need to find a nice 50th percentile friend to even us out.  Carter will be 3 on September 10 and Kensington on September 15.

This is Kensington tryng to convince Carter to give her a hug goodbye.  They're so funny together.

Happy fall y'all!

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Mix and Match Mama

For the last year or so, I've been playing around with an idea.  This summer, the idea turned into a blog, which turned into a hobby, which turned into a full on passion.  If you know me, you've been hearing about this passion for months now, you've probably eaten your weight in my food, and you're probably ready for me to get on with it and start...so today's the day.  Check out my new baby, Mix and Match Mama.

Enjoy!

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Today is a good day

Today is a good day.  On Friday morning, I woke up with a stomach bug and the rest of the weekend is a nasty blur.  I hate missing fun times with my family.  Hate it.  Hate it.  Hate it.  This morning, I woke up back to normal (thank goodness!).  After we worked out, I was starving (I hadn't eaten a normal meal since Thursday night), so I took my kiddos to downtown McKinney for brunch.  It was soooo good!  After we ate our brunch food, the three of us split a huge piece of coconut cream pie (yum!).  Then, we came home to play.  Thank you Lord for my health today!  Here are some pictures of us playing...

 He's so silly!

 I said, "Kensington, smile!".  She said, "I'm smiling like a fish today.". 

 This is his super big "cheeeeeeeeeeese".

She flipped over to the other side of the chair and again when I said "smile"...she smiled like a fish. 

Love these two.  I missed spending time with them so much this weekend!

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First day of ballet

Here's something you might not know about Shay...I took ballet for 15 years.  Yup.  From the time I was 3 until I was 18, I took ballet (and other forms of dance), so naturally, I wanted my sweet girl to take it too.  My dear (and very honest friend) Helen told me yesterday that she was skeptical...Kensington is more of a "gymnastics" girl.  She's right, of course.  Kensington hasn't really exhibited any "sit still and be patient while we work on pointing our toes" behavior.  She's more of a run and tumble around kid.  That being said, we went to our first class today to try.

Here is my sweet girl refusing to look at the camera before we left.  One day, I will remind her of this behavior and hope she feels quite guilty. :)

 She is just so mistreated.  I am posting the picture nevertheless because I want you to see her cute outfit and ballet slippers.

 Now, she's telling me she wants me to take "action" shots of her doing "ballet jumps" off of the chair.

Soooooo...here's how ballet went down.  There are 8 little girls in her class.  When we got there, 5 of them were screaming hysterically.  Naturally, this caused K to cry as well.  She said she wanted me to sit in her class and watch like the other mommies (the other mommies whose little girls were also crying).  I had two choices...stay with Kensington and leave Smith in the dance studio foyer unattended crying (I could see him through the glass) or stay with Smith and watch my kid cry all the way through her paid for lesson...hmmm...I went with option A.  I gave Smith a baggie of peanut butter crackers and left him strapped in his stroller in the lobby.  He cried for about a minute until a nice mom made him a paper airplane and then he was good as gold.  He sat eating crackers, playing with his plane watching us through the glass, and Kensington participated fully in her class.  Geez...next week, Andrew's coming too.  :)



 After class, Smith was all smiles.  What a good boy to sit by himself watching while big sister was in class!

 Kensington showing me her stamp for doing such a great job in class.

Watching the other big girls in a more advanced class.

I'm sure I'll have many more dance/gymnastic/soccer classes to talk about in the future.  Over the next few years, we're going to let her try several things and then focus in on her favorite.  Maybe it will be ballet, maybe not...we'll see.

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Who is this kid?

Can someone please tell me who this young man is?  My parents took the kids to McDonald's for lunch today and my mom texted me this picture of a big boy.  This kid is sliding, drinking out of a strawed cup and he looks very, very old.  This can't be my son.  My son is still a baby.  My mother should really stop taking pictures of extremely cute toddlers at McDonald's and texting them to me.  This is one cute kid but he looks way too big to be my baby.

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While Mommy cooks...

...Kensington sits on the kitchen counter and helps me.

 While Smith sits right on the kitchen rug watching Tangled on the i-Touch.

Cooking dinner every night is always a family affair.

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Every boy should master wearing...

...his sister's high heels :)

 I call this the "Ebby Lee" face.  He doesn't do it nearly as well as her but he's trying.  Ebby Lee will make a great Miss America one day with that smile :).

 And here are some random pictures of Kensington helping me make dinner on Monday night.  For about the last 4 months, she sits on the counter and helps me make dinner every night.  She's really into stirring, measuring and pouring.  I think she'll have a passion for cooking like her mama.

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Rise of the Fall

It's over.  Summer is over.  Yes, I know it's 109 outside and I took my kids to the pool today, but in my heart and mind, I've moved on to fall.  Since fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, why not extend it out?  My A/C is on...my apple strudel candle is burning...we're pretending it's fall at the Shull house.  And thankfully, due to our upcoming travels, fall decor will be popping up within our house shortly and fall clothes are being purchased because our vacation destination will be chilly.  Until then...here is how I'm pretending...

 Yup...three new magazines.  Two for fall and one for Christmas :).  They make me sooooooo happy!  Andrew will tell you, one of my absolute favorite days of the year is when the September issue of Southern Living arrives in my mailbox.  That just signals fall for me.  It should be here any day now...until now, I have these three.

Last week, Bath and Body Works emailed me that their Halloween scents were on sale online and soon to be in the store.  I ordered some right then and there.  (Which Andrew didn't seem very interested in but my friend Sarah totally got my enthusiasm.  Thank you Sarah for humoring me!)

And this is my fall candle collection (so far...this doesn't include the scent I'm already burning...I'm sure I'll buy several more to get me through the season).

That's it.  I'm going to stay inside and pretend it's lovely out.  I'm going to smell my candles and read my magazines and be totally happy.  Bliss!

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Back in Boston

On Thursday morning, Dad and I took off for the weekend in Boston to see the Red Sox play two games.  We had the BEST time.  I think it was my favorite trip to Boston so far.  I just LOVE hanging out with my Dad and I also LOVE watching the Sox play at Fenway.  And to top it all off, the temperature was FORTY DEGREES COOLER THAN IN DALLAS!  Yes people...40 degrees cooler!  I know that's hard to imagine...it was like Heaven.  We left the 110+ heat wave and found ourselves in the 65-70 range the entire weekend.  Bliss!  

 Our flight left early, so we made it to Boston in time for lunch.  We ate lobster rolls outside.  So yummy!!!

 Dad and his lobster roll

 Yes...a picture of just me...when you're on a trip with just one other person, it's hard to get pictures of both of you.  This is me by the bay.

There we both are!

 Game number 1: Red Sox verses the Indians.  Here I am at Fenway all geared up for a yummy Fenway Frank and a great game.

 I got to watch Jason Varitek (the Sox captain and one of their catchers) warm up before the game.  I love me some Varitek...my heart really belongs to Jonathan Papelbon (not pictured...bummer...) but Tek is one of my favorites too!  (Andrew's ok with my love for Papelbon...his heart belongs to Derek Jeter, so it's all good) :)

 On Friday, we went to Harvard to walk around, shop and eat.  This is my dad in front of the Dunkin' Donuts where in Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon says the famous line through the glass, "how'd you like them apples?".  Your random movie trivia for the day :).

 This is a picture of me wearing a SWEATER!  Yes, my Texas friends, a real sweater!  It was about 68 right there.

 And this is game 2 on Friday night when we played the Yankees...not sure who my dad had to kill to get me these tickets but I'm sure glad he did it :).

Thank you Dad for such a wonderful trip!  We have many, many, many more in the future!  Love you!

And I love you Boston...you're a beautiful city with fabulous food, fantastic weather and the best baseball team in the world!

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