Life Lately

Derek was out of town last week for a conference with work, and he got back late Saturday night. Traveling and being away from the girls has definitely gotten harder as they've gotten older! This trip was FULL of questions! When Derek travels, we always say he's going to "far away work," which is a phrase we learned from a friend. Shelby could NOT let go how Daddy had to be at "far away work" on his "stay home day" (aka Saturday), it would just too much for her! And then while he was gone, she would ask me: "Well, how many patients is Daddy seeing today?" And of course, when I told her he wasn't seeing patients there, her response was: "Well then WHAT is he doing?!?" ;)  Shelby typically asks TONS of questions ALL the time, but I never really realized how much Derek helps field those questions when he gets home from work in the evenings/how much I appreciated having some adult conversation after the girls go to bed at night....becuase let me tell you, five days straight of answering a 4.5 year old's constant questions was a bit much for me! At one point on the last day Derek was gone, I finally just said to Shelby: "Stop asking me such weird questions!" When I relayed that conversation to Derek, he made me feel really great about squashing all of Shelby's genuine childhood curiosity. ;)  Anyhow, all of that to say, we're all thrilled to have Derek home again!! :)

Shelby showing off the card she made for Will's 2nd birthday, she insisted
on writing his full name & address on the envelope despite the fact that it was
being hand-delivered to the Birthday Boy! ;)

I caught Shelby like this while Derek was gone & asked her what she was doing. She replied: "I'm just looking at this picture of my BFF because I miss him."
{BFF is pronounded "biff" in our house. Shelby first spotted "BFF" on my Diet Coke can last summer with the slogan "Share a coke with your BFF." So now, BFF is a common word in our house that is used quite frequently. When I was buying new PJ's for Shelby a couple months ago, I came across the ones below and had to get them immediately for her. ;)

While Shelby was at school one morning, I had a Victoria's Secret coupon my mom had sent to me that was burning a hole in my pocket. So Hadley and I made a morning of it at La Cantera, which is a delightful outdoor mall just 5-10 minutes from Shelby's school. Hadley and I seriously had the best morning there together, and then I was left wondering why haven't I been doing this all along?!?! She happily sat in the stroller with her snacks while I hit up a couple stores then we enjoyed her first Auntie Anne's experience and some play time at the mall's playground!

Auntie Anne's! :)
Sharing food with Hadley is seriously one of our favorite pasttimes! Since Shelby was/is such a picky eater, we haven't been able to enjoy that with her so much. (Don't get me wrong, Shelby and I share a sweet tooth so we get plenty of enjoyment together with donuts, ice cream, brownies, anything else that's chocolate, ha!) Every now and again, we'll order dinner in for us after the girls have already eaten, and we'll put a show or movie on for them while we eat. Shelby will happily sit and watch while we eat, but Hadley wants to be on our laps trying every last bite and it just tickles us to death!

She looks way too big to me here!

Reading at the library :)
Can't get over her posture, ha!

The difference in the way these two grasp their markers astounds me! This is the way they have both held their crayons/markers from pretty much Day 1. We had a long talk with Shelby's teachers about this at her conference last week; they were amazed that her grasp still looks like this considering how good her control is when she's writing/drawing. They told us to just let her grasp be and when she's ready to hold it differently, she will! She knows what the appropriate way to hold it is and will actually hold it that way for painting, but prefers her whole fist for writing/drawing. Shelby has always done everything on her own time frame, so why should this be any different?! ;)

Derek and I were cleaning out the safe on Sunday and randomly found an old Starbuck's gift card in there. I'm not a coffee person, so I took Hadley there one morning while Shelby was at school to share a slice of pumpkin bread & she conned me into a juice box, too! ;) And of course, we had to get some cake pops to take home to share with Shelby after lunch!

This picture sums up our life right now. Shelby's "friends" (aka stuffed animals) are taking on real personalities, and imaginary friends are making regular appearances at our house. It's not really visible in the picture above, but that is a bear wearing one of Shelby's socks as a hat with a hair bow clipped on to it and a pair of her underwear is serving as his clothes. Clearly, her imagination is alive and well! ;)

Happy Wednesday, Everyone! :)