The Sheps

Your favorite food is…. Broccoli (I disagree.  He does like broccoli but it wouldn’t be his first choice)

Your favorite sport to play is…. t-ball & soccer

Your favorite show on TV is…. Wild Kratts (he hit that nail on the head)

The coolest person you know is…. everybody I know (this is why I love Cade!)

Your favorite thing to learn about at school is…. zebras

The thing you do the best is…. climb a tree

If you could go anywhere in the world, you’d go to…. Colorado

Your favorite color is…. green & gold

When you grow up, you want to be a…. firefighter

Your favorite song is…. Party Rock

The book you love to read is…. John Deere books

Three words that describe Cade…. Sweet, clever and tall (I had to come up with 3 but he learned what the word describe meant)

When you were little you use to…. hit (0bviously something we are working with Graham on…)

Your favorite time of year is…. October and December is my favorite

One food you don’t like very much…. pasta

If you had one wish it would be…. that I had a real firetruck

Your best memory is…. going to Six Flags

 

Oh, we love Thanksgiving!!!  This year we were so thankful to have Mimi with us at Thanksgiving!!  We had wonderful weather and spent a lot of time outside!!!  The bonfire was fun but Cade wasn’t a huge fan of the large fire.  He said, “Mommy, it’s too hot.. it feels like summer.  I’m going to stay back here.” Funny guy.  The little cousins had a blast playing together.  We are so thankful for a fun family!!! 

Graham, 2years and 4 months

Well, this is a totally out of order post but I have to note the large milestones on here or I’ll never remember.  🙂  It has been a huge week at our house… 1. because I NEVER thought giving up a paci could be so easy and 2. I really thought I’d let him keep it until he was like 4 because I treat him like’s he a newborn.  So we were on our way to school last week and he’s been teething pretty bad…. so he was back there chewing on his paci (which I’ve been throwing them out as he chews through them because I didn’t want him to swallow a paci piece… not because I was planning to get rid of it) … So, he says, “Uh, Oh, Momma, wook…. don’t want it.” I took it and he had chewed through BOTH sides of it so I said, “Well, Graham, no more paci! I don’t have another one with me and we are almost to school.”  I decided right then and there the paci stage was over.  It was nice… no anxiety leading up, no time for me to get sad, no ‘talking’ it up with Graham (because honestly, the guy wouldn’t care about what he would “get” for giving up his paci.  He just loved his paci.)  He cried a little the first night but keeps telling everyone, “I a BIG Boy! No mow paci!”  He’s moved on… and enjoys being big!  I do miss seeing him suck on that little thing.  I just hope potty training him will be as easy.  …a mom can hope, I guess. 🙂

We had a great BU Homecoming weekend.  Paige drove down from Austin for Friday night and it was fun to have her at the bonfire.  We did our usual of getting Poppa Rollo’s pizza and taking it to the bonfire.  The kids had a ball running around playing and we got to see fun friends.  Of course, getting in line for the ferris wheel was of utmost importance.  The boys got to ride it and you can see them in the picture below… JH, Travis, Keith and Cade.

Graham loved running around (and away from us) and smiling at anyone who would look his way.  He’s such a little flirt.

The kids loved watching the bonfire getting washed down before the night began.  Love the picture of sweet Fin and Graham holding hands.  Such cute little friends. Please note: Keith in the picture (2 down) is like a bodyguard to the 4 littles.  love it. 

Parade time!  It always begins early… trying to get a seat on the curb and it always amazes us the number of adults sitting on the curb with no intention of allowing little ones up to the front.  We were running about 30 minutes past our usual arrival time and we won’t let that happen again!  … the kids barely got a curb seat. 

My favorite part of homecoming weekend was definitely spending time with my college girlfriends at the bonfire.  We had a blast just hanging out… I love those girls and am so thankful for them! Keith went into the game and enjoyed it sans wife and kids. 🙂  He also let me go to Pigskin to watch one of my Bible study girls in the Pi Phi act.  Loved every minute of Pigskin!!!

 

These cute little ones loved dressing up for halloween.  We had a blast at the fall festival and trick or treating around the neighborhood.  I let Cade pick out what he wanted to be.  He told me, “A police man because they protect people.”  Great!  He’s already looking out for others.  🙂  Graham’s sole job was to be cute and he did that very well in his ‘hand-me-down’ costume from the Jack Henry.  This costume is always a winner…. it’s just so cute!  Love this time of year!!!  

Really…. does it get any cuter??  That face… it’s precious.  G also loved him some nacho cheese.  He’s never tasted the likes of it and he couldn’t get enough.  

j

Cade is such a cute soccer player… he might not love the game but I love the getup!  He’s precious and I love he gets to play on a team with his buddies!!!  …and little Graham is a good supporter.  He’d love to be able to play soccer on the field.  When we pass the fields he still yells out, “Soccer!!!”

…almost forgot to document cute G carrying Finley’s baby around during the game.  Of course, Keith loved that G was playing with a doll.  Hey, he has some sweet instincts.  I appreciate his gentle side.  and I swear he looks like me in this picture.

…and where has the time gone???

For his 5th birthday we had a small party for some of his little buddies.   We had a “Wear your favorite jammies… watch a movie” party for Cade.  It was the first ‘drop-off’ party we had been involved in and it was wonderful.  The boys had so much fun and it was honestly so much easier without parents there.  The boys played for the first little bit, then we sat them all down for pizza and cookie cake and that was followed by Cars 2 and popcorn.  Keith and I were amazed at the manners of these little guys.  They were all so sweet and polite.  I’m so glad Cade is surrounded by wonderful little boys.  I’d like to keep them all at this age.  🙂

Cade wanted to have his family birthday dinner at Purple Cow so he could have a purple milkshake.  He was showered with many many birthday gifts.  I think he had a case of the “Birthday overload” and didn’t really want to smile for pictures.  Oh well!  We love you, sweet Cade!  You have really become a little guy and can’t wait to see what a difference you make in the world.  We love that you never meet a stranger, are kind to all around you, you get excited about the smallest things, you LOVE to learn and you really soak it all in…  You are a joy to be around and we are so glad God put you in our family.  You, Cade, are such a blessing and we love you soooo much!! (infinite +++)

The boys hit the jackpot with having Lili as their grandmother.  She loves to have fun!  For her birthday she took us all to Great Wolf Lodge for a weekend of fun.  …of course, Cade is still talking about it.  He loved every second of it.  We rode some pretty big rides and he couldn’t get enough.  Graham loved the wave pool and crawling around/floating on his belly.  It was hard to get him out of the water to go inside.  I compared Great Wolf to Vegas for kids…  there is an overabundance of stuff to do around every corner.  Cade and Graham loved listening to the story time at night with their jammies on…. It was a fun time!  …and great memories were made! Thanks, Lili and Papaw for a fun weekend!! 

This last picture is courtesy of Cade. 🙂

I can’t believe our little, friendly guy is two years old!!!!  I feel like I’ve known him forever and yet he still feels like my baby.  I have noticed we baby him SO MUCH more than we ever did Cade.  He still uses his paci most of the day….the majority of the reason for that is because he puts everything in his mouth.  He is getting better at not doing this and we have started leaving the paci for bedtime more and more everyday.  Graham is starting to talk more.  Just yesterday when Keith was changing his diaper Graham screamed (something we have been working on him NOT doing) and he pointed to himself and said, “No Sir! Stop it!”  Ha ha… he’s obviously heard that a lot. 🙂  He loves whatever his big brother loves…. whether that is Octonauts (“Oct-to-nots!”) or tractors or legos.  He is all about whatever his big brother is doing.  Graham is such a little treasure to us.  He is about the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.  He does have a streak of “wildness” in him…. he doesn’t really care if he gets in trouble for something.  He will brush it off and keep going.  He’s a tough little thing but we’ve known that since day one.  Graham’s favorite things right now are balls (he points to any ball and will tell you what it is), balloons and the movie CARS.  So we combined them all for his 2nd birthday party.  We had our family over for dinner and G had a great night!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 2nd Birthday, Graham!!!

Stats: I can’t find my sheet but he was 36% in weight and 60% in height… appears he will be around 6′ tall, where as Cade at this age was off the charts in both.  Graham definitely has Harvey in him when it comes to size.  Cade gets his height from his daddy’s side. 🙂

 

 

We had 2 boys heading off to school this year.  Cade started his last year of preschool and sweet Graham has headed to Mother’s Day Out for the first time.  Cade LOVES school!!!  We were extra excited this year because he has a teacher that he had when he was two.  It’s been fun to hear her comments on how much he has grown (physically and mentally) over the past few years.  Cade’s other teacher is absolutely precious too…. we couldn’t be more pleased with his wonderful teachers.  We had his first parent teacher conference a few weeks ago and they seem to be amazed with his vocabulary.  (as are we….) He uses such big words for a little 4 year old.  He is like a sponge and soaks everything in…. so we have to be super careful with what we have on the TV or listen to on the radio.  He’s constantly using great adjectives to explain things.  He is fun to have a conversation with.  Cade loves to teach us things he has learned.  They also said he is a light in their classroom.  He is so friendly and I’m glad to know he is like that outside of our house….

Graham started his year off in tears…. and they tend to start coming each week when I pull into the parking lot at his school.  Poor guy…. he is pretty dramatic.  It’s like he knows the parking lot is his cue to turn on the waterworks.  As soon as he sees his sweet teachers he cuddles on their shoulder and acts so pathetic.  …then I glance in as I’m leaving and he is as happy as ever.  I know he loves going to school and playing with other kids.  I think he just LOVES the attention everyone gives him when he acts sad.  I have his number… I know how that guy works.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely can’t get enough of the cuddling he likes to do when he wakes up in the morning.  But I know he is a people person and school is good for his soul.  The teachers love him and I’m sure his dimples get him some extra hugs in his classroom.  It kills me… he sleeps on a nap mat at school.  My little busy body actually SLEEPS ON A NAP MAT!  It is amazing to me how they get 12 little 2 year olds asleep on nap mats.  A-MAZING!

Here are some pictures to document the first day:

 

 

 

 

Cade has been into silly pictures lately…. impossible to get both of them looking at the camera and smiling.