Church Fan Club and Other Random Things

Man oh man, last week was Ca-Ray-Zee busy.  No time for blogging up in here.  I got a little part-time editing job a couple months ago that I've been able to do from home.  It's been such a huge blessing and came just at the right time (what with car craziness and all that jazz).  It's been mostly low key, a few reports a day that I was usually always able to get done during nap time.  Last week, however, was a different story.  I had so many reports to do each day that I was easily working  until 10 or 11 at night.  Darin has also been super busy at work the past few weeks, also working late into the night.  Shae has really had to step it up and take care of the household duties these past few weeks.  He didn't seem to like the idea of updating the blog, so we just let that one slide for a week. 

Luckily, the fact that we've been so busy with work means that there really isn't much to blog about...So here's some random photos for your Monday entertainment.

This is Shae and his Primary fan club after church.  This happens every. single. Sunday. Right after everyone is out of classes.  They all run around behind him while he runs around on who knows what energy he still has left after three hours of church.

After Darin and Shae's cute matchy-matchy faces I had to get in on some of this action and we took our own one afternoon.

Last week, I set up the Pack N' Play for the little girl we were babysitting to nap in.  Shae immediately wanted to get in, pulled up the mattress and got cozy underneath of it and then started reading his book.  It may have made me LOL. 

Yesterday at church, after the fan club left and we were left waiting for daddy to be finished with all his after church duties. He had a blast. Like, never-ending squeely joyful laughs of happiness and pleasure.

When Shae finishes the dishes and mopping the floor, we allow him the pleasure of reading to us. We love listening to him jabber on and on while he flips the pages, as if he is really reading. 

Darin has been really into grilling lately, so his co-workers got him this apron for his one year anniversary.  I was wearing it yesterday to cook something and Shae kept staring at the baby and trying to pull it off of me. He was pretty excited when I put it on him.  And when I said, "Say Cheese!" This is what happened:

Say what!!!!!????  He actually smiled!  I thought he was really getting it and then the second time he made this face:

Well, sort of....

And that's a Monday randomness wrap. 

The Hair Cut

People keep asking us, "Why!? Why would you cut his hair!?"

Here's my answer friends: 

Yes, some days he had beautiful ringlet curls. Some days we wet his hair and brushed it while he ran down the hallway trying to get away from us, all with the hope that it would tame the beast. But to be honest, most days (for the past month or two) his hair looked like this:

And so it was time to let the hair go. (Although, I kind of regretted giving Darin permission to cut his hair the second that he started). Letting him hold the buzzer didn't seem to help the situation much.

Otter pops helped slightly.

 And this picture kind of breaks my heart. 

 It was a pretty traumatic experience for all of us. I had a hard time looking at him on Saturday because he didn't look like my boy. A few days later, we've all recovered. He's still as goofy and flirtatious as he was with the curls. Instead of getting attention for the curls, he now gets attention for being the little boy getting ready to head off to the Army (we may have cut it a little  shorter than planned). Either way, I still think he's adorable and have finally started looking at him again...

'

 Thank you curls for all the good memories.
RIP

7/12/2014

Grandma's Birthday

My mom called me on Monday and said that she wanted to spend her birthday on Friday with Shae. I told her that that sounded marvelous and to come. So they did. 

Mom and Dad came down on Thursday evening and stayed through Saturday afternoon. Last minute and short, but so nice to see them. Shae is at such a fun stage right now (Of course when isn't he? But every new stage just seems better than the last). He seems to constantly be changing and learning so I was really glad that they got to come down and enjoy his silliness, even if it was only for 48 hours. They loved him. He loved them. Life was good.

On my mom's birthday on Friday morning, we headed down to our little beach down the street. It's so fun to watch Shae at the beach. The focus he has while plopped in the sand using a shovel (or measuring cup) to take the sand from one place to another, so fun to watch (for his own mother at least, probably not to many others). 

Shae had a blast playing with grandpa while mom and I kicked back and read and talked.

That afternoon we went to campus and took a tour of the Wren building, then came home and watched Cars (Shae has been super into cars the last week or so, so grandma brought the movie with them). After Shae went to bed we pulled out the Brownies and Rocky Road and did adult things, like finish Cars. 

Saturday morning we...cut Shae's hair...more about that later. Then went off to Busch Garden's to try and bring back my good mood that was lost in the pile of curls on the living room floor. 

Mom and Dad went on their first roller coaster ride in years, we watched a few shows and enjoyed each others company walking around country to country. Such a fun amusement park.

Then they were off, back up to Pennsylvania. Hopefully we get to see them again soon!

Church These Days

While looking through the pictures on my mother-in-law's ipad I came across this treasure chest of gold:

Clearly taken at church, clearly not very reverent, but I clearly think these two boys look pretty stellar in these pictures. No, but seriously, Shae is copying Darin! I can't get enough...even though someone needs to be chastised for being somewhat irreverent, but then, let's be honest, this is probably more reverent than us trying to get Shae to sit still in our laps while he screams and kicks and pushes his little way out of our arms.

Church is rough these days folks. And although it's fun to watch Shae go around the entire Sunday School room and shake everyone's hand, I was pretty excited when they announced at the end of Sacrament Meeting that they needed someone to volunteer to be in Nursery. I jumped all over that one, because let's face it, we probably would have ended up in their anyways.  

Five more Sunday's. Five more.

Team Sha-Sha

SHAron and SHAe. Get it? Sha-Sha. I know, creative right? Stop me now.

After a crazy whirlwind weekend of Youth Conference and then coming home just to turn around and drive up to DC to clean out our car, drop off a car and come right back down (remind me to never do that again)...it's nice to be home. However, it quickly sunk in that Grandma Sharon is no longer here (as I can't seem to blow dry my hair anymore without a little fussy boy at my feet trying to get my attention). We are missing her like crazy! 

We had such a wonderful visit with Darin's mom and can only hope that she feels the same (even though we dragged her out into the East Coast humid-heat a few times too many). It was so nice to see Shae form such a loving bond with his grandma, especially since he has barely seen her over the past year. He fell in love with her instantly and had such a good time spending time with her.

About an hour after she arrived they went outside and played in the rain while I stayed dry on the inside snapping some pictures...Shae loved her to death from that moment on.

 He fell asleep on her one afternoon. Um, who is this kid? This NEVER happens. I might have been slightly jealous. I guess it was the grandma touch.

And here they are again sleeping away on our way to Monticello.

These two. They're a pair.

Seriously, can't get over how nice it was to have her here (to have an adult to talk to during the day!) We love you Grandma! Come back soon!