Breakfast with Santa

Saturday morning, we attended Breakfast with Santa at Downtown. Shelby was so excited when Santa arrived! We enjoyed a yummy breakfast with several of our friends and then got a family picture with Santa. Shelby even sat right next to him! She didn't talk to Santa until we were walking away. As I was carrying her off the platform, Shelby turned out to Santa and reminded him that she wants Big Bird for Christmas! Santa better not forget!

Shelby and Danny Isom, one of the Shepherds at Downtown

Shelby and Daddy eating eggs, ham, biscuits, and gravy
(Channing's fleece sure makes his belly look big in this picture!)

Too Cute!

The other day, Shelby wanted to watch the Veggie Tales video, The Toy that Saved Christmas. She got comfy on the couch like this all by herself and asked for all of her babies. She is just so sweet!

Christmas Reception at Harding

We were able to attend a lovely Christmas reception at Harding tonight. The three of us enjoyed a carriage ride, a first for both Shelby and myself. Harding has an amazing display of Christmas lights. The campus is beautiful!

After the carriage ride, we made our way to the second floor of the Heritage Center, where they were serving all kinds of delicious food. Wonder why they never gave us that kind of food while we were students? :)

Christmas Party at Carpenter's Kids

The semester ended at Carpenter's Kids with a fun-filled Christmas party. Parents were invited to attend, so I got there around 11. When I arrived, the children were all sitting around the table, coloring a Christmas book. Here's Shelby coloring her last page:

After they finished their books, it wasn't quite time to see Santa, so one of Shelby's teachers read a book by Eric Carle. The kids loved it, especially all the animal noises they got to make throughout the book!

Then we made our way to the room where Santa was hanging out. Shelby was one of the last ones in her class to talk to Santa, but she did it, nonetheless. Notice we even got a picture with him, with Mommy "protecting" Shelby from Santa! By the way, Shelby wants Santa to bring her Big Bird for Christmas.
It was time for lunch after visiting Santa. The kids got to eat in their classrooms. Below is a picture of the children while Miss Alyssa was thanking God for their food.
After lunch, the kids exchanged presents and gave the teachers their gifts. I found pretty Christmas kitchen towels for Mrs. Price at Target and Shelby chose fun Christmas toe socks for Miss Alyssa and Miss May. Then everybody got a sugar cookie to decorate. Shelby wasn't crazy about it, because it got her pretty messy. (Remember, she's a little princess!)

Wishin' We Had Pictures - Post #2

The Bulls are in the States right now, and they came over for a visit Monday on their way to Jonesboro. It was good to see Gary, Laura, and Nathan again! Another friend from Harding, Christie Johnson, came from Memphis with her daughter Julie. Christie and I were talking about how cool it is to see our kids playing together. Little Julie did a great job keeping up with the two-year-olds all afternoon!

Once again, I forgot to take any pictures. That is really annoying because the camera bag was on the chair in the living room the whole time!

Laura and Christie, it was so good to visit with you two and watch our children play together. I'm so glad you guys were able to come over!

Wishin' We Had Pictures - Post #1

This past weekend we were in Marshall, Texas visiting family. Shelby was so excited to see Memaw and Uncle Jason again! Aunt Kim, her son Clint, and grandson Garrett stopped by too. Shelby and Garrett got to play together for a while. After supper on Friday the three of us and Channing's mom went looking at Christmas lights. Shelby loved all the lights! Marshall is known as the City of Lights, so there was quite a lot to see.

Saturday, our niece Kelsie came over. Shelby loves her cousin, and I think Kelsie is pretty crazy about Shelby too! After lunch we made our usual trip to Marshall Pottery and found a cute plate we'll use to set out cookies for Santa each year. Then we made the short drive over to Shreveport for some window-shopping and dinner with Memaw, Angela, Kelly, Kelsie, and her boyfriend Michael. We had a delicious meal at Herby-K's! If you're ever in the Shreveport area, check it out! After dinner we went to Bass Pro. Shelby really had fun looking at the fish and all the stuffed critters. For dessert we went to Krispy Kreme. YUMMY!!! Shelby looked so cute in her hat and got a kick out of watching the donuts being made.

Sunday, the three of us and Memaw went to church with Angela, Kim, and their families. It was a blessing to worship God with family there at Immanuel. We all had lunch together after church, before the three of us made our way back to Arkansas.

We realized on our way home that we didn't take a single picture while we were there. We had our camera with us most of the time, but were just busy and didn't think about it. What a shame, because we were with several people in the family that we don't see each time we go. We will definitely have to stop and take some pictures next time!

It will be good to return later this month. Shelby is already asking when we're going back to Memaw's house!

Praise God!

We are praising God tonight and thanking Him for the excellent report our brother-in-law, Kelly Person, got today! Tests revealed that there is no cancer. Hallelujah!

Thanks to all who prayed for Kelly, as well as his wife Angela (Channing's sister) and daughter Kelsie.

Hot Chocolate

Shelby enjoyed some hot chocolate after we came in from the backyard!

It made her smile really big!

Ooh, that's yummy!

Pointing out the marshmallows

Playing Outside

Shelby and I spent some time in the backyard on Tuesday. We played with a couple of balls and ran around. Shelby likes to try and kick the ball as far as I can. It's cute watching her try so hard! She also played with her tricycle.

I think she was throwing the ball backwards here.

Not wanting to look at the camera

Shelby was so excited to find the pumpkin
she painted at Carpenter's Kids...last month!

The tricycle just won't work as well in the grass!

She found the water hose, and I couldn't help but wonder what
she'll do if someone ever turns the water on her when she's
doing that! (Not anytime soon of course!)

Decorating the Tree

It has become a tradition for us to decorate the tree as soon as we get back from Thanksgiving. The past two years or so, we've been back home by Friday or Saturday, which makes it a lot easier since Channing still has time off from work. We spread things out this year, putting up the tree and fluffing it on Friday, and then doing the rest on Saturday. Channing had to make a quick Wal-mart trip to get lights, as we discovered most of our strands weren't working...after two strands were on the tree already! We watched a couple of Veggie Tales Christmas movies and started The Grinch while we were decorating. While the lights were being put on, I set everything else out and showed Shelby most of our ornaments. It was so fun to see how excited she got at each snowman, Santa, and all the other things. Shelby really enjoyed watching us and was eager to help out when she could.

Shelby and Daddy fixing the tree skirt

Getting ready to put the star on top
(Look at that huge smile on Shelby's face!)

Can she reach?!

The finished product

Thanksgiving 2007

We spent Thanksgiving with the Mathis side of the family this year. We shared a delicious meal with Wayne, Judy, Nunda, John, and Morgan. After dessert we spent some time together, mostly watching Shelby play and sing along with her Veggie Tales cd.

Shelby loved Aunt Nunda's gelatin salad! (We still want that recipe, by the way!) She also enjoyed the sweet potato casserole after a little convincing from Nona. Deidre needs to make that yummy dish from time to time, so that we can enjoy it here in Arkansas!

While we enjoyed spending the day with these family members, it wasn't quite the same without Justin, Deidre's brother and his family, Uncle Don, Aunt Jeannie, and Uncle Joe. We also missed my mom and the rest of my family who were celebrating in Texas.

Poor Shelby was sick while we were in Tennessee, as well as Friday night after we got home. She ran a fever each night. Saturday we took her to an urgent care medical clinic here in Searcy. Thankfully, Shelby did not have strep or anything else other than a virus. She is doing a lot better now.

Coloring

Shelby loves to color!

She makes each picture as colorful as possible!

Counting the Blessings

Tonight was a night of being thankful in our house. We shared with each other what we're thankful for this year, or as I asked Shelby, what makes us happy. Thought it would make a good post for the blog!

Channing is thankful for his wonderful wife and precious daughter. He's thankful that God loves him. He's thankful for a good job and great friends.

Apparently Shelby was thirsty when she was telling us what all makes her happy. Here's her list: cup, milk, juice, lemonade, and water. When she prayed tonight, she thanked God for Mommy and Daddy too.

This year I'm thankful for the friendships that I have, especially the ones that have been renewed in the last few months. I'm thankful to be a part of an amazing church here in Searcy. I'm thankful for a husband who works hard for our family. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my sweet little girl, and that I get to stay at home with her.

What are you thankful for?

Update on Channing's Brother-In-Law

About a month ago, we asked you guys to be praying for our brother-in-law, Kelly Person. Kelly, his wife Angela (Channing's sister), and their daughter Kelsie are at MD Anderson this weekend. Today Kelly is having tests to see if the melanoma has spread to other parts of his body. On Monday morning, he'll have surgery. It might be two weeks before they hear the results of all today's tests. For more information, check out Kelsie's blog.

We appreciate your prayers for Kelly and for the family at this time.

An Amazing Movie

This past weekend Channing and I watched The Ultimate Gift. This movie was amazing and really reminded us of the important things in life. It's a great movie to watch during the holiday season. Find out more about the movie here. We highly recommend it!

What's In a Name?

So Shelby's latest thing is wanting to name everything. Whether it's the shadow of a piece of furniture, something at a store, someone in Target... The question is always something like this, "What's that named?" Here are a few of the latest things we've named, thanks to Shelby:

• The shadow on the left side of the chest of drawers in our bedroom is Bertha. And, get this, she says it's Nona's shadow. The names Nona or Judy didn't work, but Bertha did. Go figure.
  
• The Big Bad Wolf is now known as Lester around here.
• The Three Little Pigs are named Annie, Lacey, and Sammie.
  

Regular Photo Shoot with the Statues

We probably take some of these every time, but the pictures always turn out great!

Zoo Animals

One of the two hippos was pretty alert on Saturday. We even got to see him open his mouth wide several times. Shelby mimicked it perfectly! (Why didn't we get a picture of that?)

Shelby loves the pandas. This time she ran up and down the glass, trying to keep up with them. (The pictures we took of her up to the glass didn't turn out well...sorry!)

The tigers were really enjoying the beautiful autumn weather!

Zoo Day

Saturday was the perfect day to go to the zoo! We went with Deidre's mom and her nephew Morgan. This time we bought a membership and definitely think we'll get our money's worth, considering this was at least the third trip to the Memphis Zoo this year.

Daddy and Shelby enjoying a ride on the carousel

A picture of the two of us...something that's pretty rare these days

Morgan, Channing, and Shelby
(just before the carousel ride)

Morgan and Nona
Who's taller??

Halloween

We had so much fun last night! After a quick dinner, we got ready to head out for an evening of trick-or-treating. Shelby was a cowgirl riding a pony for Halloween. We went to several houses of people we knew, in three neighborhoods near us. Shelby and I had practiced knocking on the door and saying "Trick-or-Treat!" and "Thank you!" yesterday afternoon, and she did a great job last night. Every time we got back in the car to drive somewhere else, all Shelby could do was giggling over and over. She came home with a lot of candy...of course Mommy and Daddy were excited about that!

Daddy is a pro at fixing Shelby's pigtails!

"Trick or Treat!"

Shelby with some of her favorite people...Taryn, Wendy, and Dirk Smith

Our sweet cowgirl with her pony