Happy Holidays......

Snapshot of our Christmas Card this year! Not the best image of it, but I had to work with the iphone camera :)

Happy Holidays, Love-The Shelbys

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

Christmas is in the air and Santa Clause has been watching our house like crazy this season! And Elem is all about it. He is more into Christmas time in general, being good for Santa, wrapping and opening presents, and being thankful for what you get no matter what it might be! This year has def been the best year to watch Elem get excited and look at all the toys and ideas of things he hopes for Santa to bring. He loves the Christmas Tree, all the ornaments, lights, stockings, everything. And most importantly, he loves him some Santa Clause! We made a trip to visit Santa with Cecilia and Nate, and Elem knew before we even left, exactly what he was going to say to the big man.

Feeling very cool to be talking to the "real" Santa Clause. Uhm, and we know he is the "real" Santa Clause because he has a real beard. I made sure Elem knew this important detail before we left for the visit!

Nate, Cecilia, and Elem....very interested in Santa, and not being shy AT ALL! Unfortunately, Santa's camera decided to not work right when we got to the front of the line, so there was a little issue with actually getting a pic. But at least we got to take our own for free! yay!

Santa: What would you like for Christmas?

Elem: I want a remote control hot wheels.

Cecilia: I want a pink convertible.

Santa checking to see if everybody has been good this year...Elem super interested, Cecilia super interested....Nate-not so much.

Trying to get a pic of all three in their Christmas best was a nightmare, so this is what you get: Merry Christmas from Cecilia, Elem, and Nate!

These 2 however, are BFFs till the end, love/hate relationship often times, but the majority of the time is LOVE.

Trip to visit Santa was sooo much fun, and perfect for Elem. He loved Santa, he loved running around the mall, loved riding all the kiddie rides, loved eating dip n dots and chick fil a for lunch. Christmas trip success for sure!

Elem's favorite Christmas Song as of now...You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I'm telling you why, Santa Clause is coming to town!!! Love to hear him sing this song. His sweet little singing voice is to die for.

We are Thankful!

Top three things on Elem's list this year.....

"I am thankful for my Blankey, Sage, and Momma".

Ill take that as a win. :) At least he is thankful!

Pumpkinish Activities!

Uhm finding time to do punkinish activities while in nursing school-ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE!!! Let me repeat. ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE. My life is so hectic and busy that I felt as if fall flew by me and almost before I could even catch a moment to celebrate the leaves changing colors and the fun of pumpkins and halloween. Luckily, somehow, we were able to spend a little family time outside enjoying the nice weather, and I was able to take Elem to his school field trip to the pumpkin patch! It was seriously, the best field trip ever!! The weather was so great, and Elem had a blast with his friends.

Elem, Luke, and Addison at the top of the giant hay stacks.

Me: " Elem go pick out a pumpkin! You get to take one home with you!"

ELem: "Okay mom, I found one" (see pic below)

Enjoying the train rides with Ethan and Izak

Super jump off the huge haystack. Check.

Swinging with Preston.

And of course pumpkin painting and decorating with mommy.

I just keep telling myself, next year will be different. Next year will be different. I will have sooo much more time to do all the things with Elem that I want to. But at the same time, I don't want to miss out on making memories now! He is at such a fun age!!! Truth be told we had a great time making the pumpkins and we actually started carving one, werent having that much fun because he thought it was gross, and decided to go "mr potato head" with the pumpkin. And it turned out great!

Happy Fall!

Super Hero Family

How else would we rock out on Halloween this year??? Uhm, Supr Hero families are the best right?! Even if they are made up from old clothes, your kids super hero costumes, toys, and a few scraps around the house!

Per Elem: Here we have, "Super Pumpkin Sage, Bat-Daddy, Super Momma, and Spiderman"

So, I am that mom that has "strongly encouraged" her child in the years past to be something "cool" for Halloween. Especially with a child that USED to hate dressing up! Nothing on the face, nothing tight or costume like at all. It was difficult, but I did what I could over the last few years with him being an awesome Pirate one year (with the best costume ever), a penguin as a baby, and a farmer during one of those awful phases when we were lucky to get him in pants for the night. LOL. Anyway-needless to say, I am anti character and of course anti those ugh ...super hero costumes from Walmart!!!!

However, this year, I chose to pick my battles, and go with the flow. Letting my sweet little 4 year old choose his outfit of choice and just deciding early on not to care either way. So, Spider man it was. And yes it cost $10.00. And I could not be prouder of his excitement and commitment to character. Haha. I even let him choose his shoes, and when he came out of his room he had some red house shoes, a size and 1/2 too small, that matched perfectly. Ahh, what are you gonna do???

Here is Nate- Pirate, Cecilia- Tinkerbell, and Elem-Spiderman.

My all time favorite halloween pic. hahahaha. Spider man and Tink at their best.

It was so much fun!! We hit up like 3 blocks of houses around our neighborhood, and the kids got waay to much candy! I love Halloween around our neighborhood, and love how everybody gets their houses so decorated and ready for the kids. All except that one house who makes sure their lights are on, and hangs the 8X10 white paper that reads: NO CANDY, underlined and in all caps none the less. Some people just have no little kid halloween spirit!

Hope for a Cure 2011

Every year, my family is excited and happy to participate in the Race for the Cure! We always do it in honor of my mom who is a breast cancer survivor!!! And we couldn't imagine NOT going! The weather was perfect this year and as always there was more pink to go around than you could ever imagine. Little Rock is still one of the top cities for turnout for Race for the Cure and its amazing to see all the people out there supporting those who have beaten breast cancer, and those they are honoring who didn't survive their battle. We love you memaw and are so proud of your battle!

The crew up bright and early and ready to walk supporting my mom! Just about everybody is up and cheerful....note Elem with his face not looking towards the camera. Hmm, you can only force so much at 7am and hope for so much with us late sleepers who are not quite the happy morning people. This year was a little hectic with school and work so I didn't get to get TOO "pinked" out, but so help me next year I will be graduated and I will have plenty of time to get ready in advance! Oh I cannot wait for the day!!!!

Me, Elem, Memaw, Jeff, Ann, and Seth.

Jeff and I. Happy.

Memaw and Ann :) So happy Ann could join us this year!!

Here is Elem giving Memaw lots of hugs after finishing the big race. His favorite part, and mine too is always at the end when my mom runs through the tunnel of balloons and gets to give everybody high 5s! Its so fun!

Wahooo Everybody loves confetti and everybody loves memaw!!! Especially Elem Zane.

I think Race for the Cure is amazing and I couldn't be prouder to support such an awesome cause for my mom and others who have fought and are currently fighting the battle of Breast Cancer! As they save....Save the Boobies!!!!