Holly Jolly

I used to wonder why my friends with kids always sent pictures of just their kids on the Christmas card. Now I know. Between the ages of 18 months and 3 ish, it's really, really hard to get a good picture of everyone together. And by hard, I mean near-impossible. It's not that I need everyone perfect and smiling, I just need HIM to be remotely still for more than 10 seconds.
So, there might not be official cards this year.

A few cute holiday pictures might have to suffice this season! We'll see.

Checking out the Rock Hill Christmas parade!

Pops gives Shepard a lift for a great view.

Watching the lights and people go by!

Decorating his own little tree!

Great job, Shepard!

Look Mommy!!! STOCKINGS!!!!!!

Hard at work at Mommy's desk.

I have no idea what he's thinking, but this is this year's official "Santa" picture. But I will say this look pretty much sums up his personality...curious, a little suspect of anything new, but still interested enough to give it a whirl.

ABCs!

I'm hopeful to get some holiday pictures up this weekend. For now, I'll just have to leave you with the cuteness that is a piano and vocal duet by Mommy and Shepard. I am attired in my Saturday morning PJs, and Shepard is wearing a t-shirt of mine that he insisted on. We make quite the pair. I have no idea where he gets this bossiness from.

Monkeys and Elephants and Baby Giraffes, oh my!

We thought we'd take a leisurely trip to the Greenville Zoo on Black Friday instead of braving the malls and shopping centers. It was just about as crowded there since it was a beautiful 69-degree sunny day. We had lots of fun seeing the animals, playing on the playground, and hanging out with Melissa and Grandma.

Look at me! (thanks, Melissa!)

Monkey, meet my monkey.

Grandma is showing me the elephants!

This looked like a car, but now not so much...

Lions, what lions? I want a snack break.

Cheese!

Bamboo hill. Let's run up and down 14 times...ok? Ok.

Thanksgiving and the ZOO!

We went to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving and got to see cousins Madeleine and Micah! Also, Aunt Jessica and Uncle Justin and Uncle Matt and Melissa! 

I never end up taking a whole group picture...sigh.

So sweet. They're gathered around an iPad. Technology bringing them together....

Micah and Shepard

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the toys, cousins!

 

 

 

 

Next up...pictures of the ZOO!!!

School pictures

I'm a sucker for the school picture. I just have to get them. They couldn't get a class picture of his spring class, which made me sad, as we really liked his teachers and classmates. So, this picture is priceless to me. These are his "school friends" that we go see each day. They are such a big part of his life right now. He comes home singing all kinds of songs these days, like "Baa, baa black sheep," his ABC's, "Bringing home a baby bumblebee..." It seems he is constantly learning new things.
Here are his friends and teachers, Miss Lecara and Miss Leah.

L-R: Front-Trevor, Xavier, Rylen; 2nd-??, RJ, Devin, Shepard, ??; Back: Miss Lecara, Aiden, ?? Hayden, ??, ??, Miss Leah

I need to work on the girls. A lot of the boys he's been with since he was tiny.

They have group time in front of this wall each morning and discuss what month, date and day of the week it is. They go through their shapes and colors. It's terribly cute to see. None of them can sit still for more than 20 seconds.


 Who's that handsome little man!?!?!

It was 90 degrees outside when they took these "fall" pics. I didn't know there would be a full-length pic. Oh well. Please note the blue bandaid on the big toe.  :)

More "big house"

Mommy does some painting.

Shepard has been trying to sort out the "new house/big house" and "old house" since the move. His school is a block from the old house, so every time we go to school, he starts saying "old house!" Plus, we've had a few dinner "picnics" at the old house, so he's starting to associate the empty Pinevalley place with pizza or Chick-fil-A parties.  :) He really likes helping us vacuum and sweep as we try to ready the old place for its next phase of life. He also likes to grab the empty rollers and paintbrushes and paint in "Shepard's area."
I think he's adjusting pretty well. It's been an insane few weeks of unpacking, finding, saying "don't touch that!" We're trying hard to keep his schedule the same. Of course, "fall back" isn't anyone's friend when you have a toddler. We've been getting wakeups anywhere from 4:15 - 5:45 pretty regularly. This morning, he sorted himself out and went back to sleep somewhere during the 4's. I didn't hear from him again til the 6's. That will work.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks as we've been painting/moving and even taking SANTA pictures at school today. 

Headed to school in my sock-monkey hat!

Pops is on trash duty.

Gigi is sure she can get it off.

The mantel was attached with supersonic nails.

One our many "picnics" at the BIG HOUSE.

"Uncle Map" cuts in the paint creatively.

Getting rid of the "fence" in our dining room.

Thanks, Uncle Justin and Aunt Jessica. Labor of love.

Sure. They're smiling now. The wallpaper beat them down. Thanks, Uncle Map and Pops.

Cousin Madeleine tries to corral the tidbit.

Ho ho ho! Pictures with Santa day.

Pictures with Santa day!

Movin' on up...

We are soooo excited to be moving to a new house this weekend. We'll have twice the space as before and lots of nooks and crannies and wide open spaces for little man to play in. Here are a few shots of him at the new house as we visited and did some painting, etc. before moving.

Helping pick out some matching flooring

A big front porch is great for running

Hey, does that cute boy live here?

"Helping" Gigi

Lunch break!

Climb the ladder!

I did it!

What's this?

Cousins hangin' out