MIss Tulia 2010

MiMi doing my hair

Walking across the bridge

Waiting to see who had won

Me and Kaylie

Me after the pageant

Me again

This year since Shaleigh turned 4 she was old enough to participate in the Miss Tulia Pageant. We hunted for days for a red dress that would be perfect for her. I love her in red and thought she would be so pretty.

Saturday started as any day. Sleeping late on the weekend. We got up and had to be at the School for practice at 10:00 and then we went back home to relax until 3:15 when we had Shaleigh's hair done. Mimi did such a good job..so good that Shaleigh even feel asleep while she was doing it.

Back home we had time to relax between hair appointment and getting her dress on her. After we got to the school we dropped her off and waited in the audience for the contest to start. I was so proud of her...she came out, walked across the bridge, and across the stage without stumbling or tripping or for that matter dancing.

She looked beautiful as did her friend Kaylie who was also a contestant. Kaylie won the little Miss Tulia and after I picked up Shaleigh and we went back out to the audience she asked me why she didn't win. I told her she couldn't always win everything. What mattered was that she had fun and enjoyed the event. I also told her she should be very proud of Kaylie and to be nice and congratulate her. I didn't know if she fully understood what I was saying. After it was all over we went to get a picture of her and Kaylie together and she walked up to her and said, "I'm so proud of you and congratulations and gave Kaylie a huge hug." I was so proud of her for understanding that she couldn't always win but she should be proud of herself for putting herself out there and proud of her friends who did win.

Critterfest 2010-Science Spectrum Lubbock Texas

This drum you are suppose to use your hands I believe it is a bongo drum

She loved hearing the different instruments play as she moved along the row

The bells

Baby duck

Baby chicken

Dad thought this was funny

A bait shop with no bait what's up with that

Look at me I'm climbing the wall

Riding the camel

Riding the horse

Dan and I decided to take Shaleigh to see Critterfest at the Science Spectrum on Sunday. When we got there the first thing she got to do was the pony rides. She loves to do this and enjoyed being up on the horse. Next was the camel ride...not as much fun it was kinda bumpy.

Next we went inside and went right down and watched the alligator and crocodile show it was interesting to see how much they could grow in just one year. After that we went back upstairs and started taking Shaleigh through the remaining floors. She loved being able to hold a baby chicken, duck, and pet the huge turtle. She kept going from station to station she was interested interested in seeing what each one did. I'm ashamed to say this was the first time we took her there. She actually touched her first snake and did so with confidence that we wouldn't let anything happen to her.

After going through the floors we went back to the main floor to watch the tiger show. Wow it was amazing to see how big those things get and Shaleigh loved watching them do their tricks. After that we went out to the snack bar to await the next omni max movie. We had about 30-40 minutes to wait so we sat down to rest when all of the sudden I looked up and saw Amber, Ayne, Eddie, Ella walking in. Shaleigh jumped up and took off with them.

Her favorite part other than being able to explore at her own pace was the music section. She loved jumping in front of the lights and symbols and listening to the music play. She loved the drums and enjoyed learning the different tones of them.

We had so much fun and she learned so much. We will definitely have to visit the Science Spectrum again so that she can continue to grow and explore the unknown.

VBS 2010

The three of us ready for VBS

Sitting in front of the hay bale

I wanted to climb onto the saddle so bad

In front of the fireplace

Making a necklace

Coloring our cowboys

Painting the Texas

This year was just a little different...for one thing I was joined by my cousins Katie, and Hamilton. They arrived on Saturday before VBS and stayed until Friday of VBS. We had so much fun...we were lucky that we had Cindy Bartram as our teacher. She encouraged each one of us to listen and accomplish the crafts. She along with her helpers were there to help us make our hats, and many other things.

We as cousins did really good for the week. This is the longest that we have ever spent together and it was a lot of fun to have someone to play with. We would get up in the mornings, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go outside to play with grandmom, then lunch, and then VBS, and when mom got home in the afternoon we went swimming.

VBS ended with a cookout, and inflatables provided by the church. Kori, Hayden, and I had so much fun climbing the inflatable and starting over again. Mom and I left a little early and went home to rest. By this time I was really tired and while I enjoyed my cousins I was ready for my house to settle down. I look forward to many years of us having fun together and experiencing VBS together.

Swimming Lessons 2010

Swimming in the deep end

Coming down the slide

Jumping off the diving boardLooking to Shelbi to catch me

Hello everyone this summer since Shaleigh turned 4 we were able to put her in swimming lessons. She loved the shallow end and was afraid of 3 things: the deep end, the diving board, and the slide. She kept saying that she was too little for those three things.

Now please take into perspective that I would arrive after work everyday and sit with mom on a bench during the lessons. Shaleigh did really good swimming in the shallow end. One day she came up to me and said, "mom we have to go home now...we we still had 30 minutes left in the lesson...I asked her why and her reply mom I have to go potty." We went inside and let her potty and while in there I asked her if she would just go to the deep end of the pool and sit on the side with me with our feet in the water. She said no slide, no board. I told her she didn't even have to get into the pool unless she wanted to. We went down to the deep end, I kicked off my socks and shoes and sat down, Shelbi asked her if she was going to get in and in she jumped. The fear of the deep end ended.

A few days later I was sitting at the bench by myself and someone yelled my name I looked up to see Shaleigh on the diving board. She showed no fear as she jumped into Shelbi's arms. She would get out and repeat the action. Her fear of the diving board ended. That same day Shelbi asked if she would go down the slide....she did it. After she landed in the water she told Shelbi that it hurt her arms and she needed to fix it. Her fear of the slide still remains but not as much.

I'm so proud of what Shaleigh accomplished her first series of swimming lessons. She will now do just about anything.

Vintage Park: Princesses and Princes of Disney

Shaleigh and other kids in the carriage
Shaleigh and her secret garden
Shaleigh and Snow White
Shaleigh making her crown and showing it off.


Shaleigh with Jazmine, and Bell
Shaleigh with Tinkerbell, Ariel, and Aurora
Princess Bell from Beauty and the Beast

Cinderella and Prince Charming

Hey everyone today we went to Lubbock to meet up with Aunt Kristie, Katie, Ham and the 5 of us went to Vintage Park to watch the Disney Princesses and Princes perform their musicals. Then we were off to hunt up each prince and princess which we found almost everyone of them to take pictures with. Then we had a nice carriage ride to go to the town hall and work on crafts....a crown. We got to decorate our very own crown. We had so much fun and I know that Katie, Ham and I enjoyed ourselves. Thanks mom and Aunt Kristie for taking us.

T-Ball 2010

Well folks t-ball is winding down for the summer. We have one more game on June 7 at 6:00. We have all enjoyed t-ball this year and look forward to many more years of baseball to come. We had an awesome team this year that played their hearts for us. We had four amazing coaches (James, Steven, Dan, and I) who enjoyed working with the kids.

So to end the season I thought I would share the last official t-ball team picture with ya'll. There were unfortunately a few missing due to a pre-k graduation but Dan and I were so glad that they retook the picture so that Dan, Shaleigh, and I could be in it.