Josh's D-Day!

Diploma Day! Contrary to the Gig'em (after this weekend, we have decided Josh's hand will do nothing other than), Josh earned a Masters of Professional Accounting degree from West Texas A&M University in Canyon. He did it...finished an entire Masters while working full time, being a devoted husband, and a very loving father. Whew...I am tired just recalling it all and I was not the one doing the school work.
Josh will say it all started as a cruel joke played on him by the mail surveyors. You all have seen them...these surveys that come in the mail and ask you 100 and 1 questions, the most grueling for Josh being the one where you check your level of education and your spouse's level of education. It just killed him to check Bachelors for himself and Masters for me!!! Now, I just might have to up the ante and go for a Doctorate. What would he think of Dr. and Mr. Shields? NO way...graduate level statistics gives this math girl the willies.
We had a great time in Canyon celebrating! It did not come without its scares. Josh's ornery online professor decided that he could not e-mail Josh's grade to WT in order for Josh to graduate. Praise goes to God who blessed Josh with some very loving ladies at WT who let him walk on his word that he was passing and the grade would be there in time for diplomas to be mailed out!!! Once that was settled it was smooth sailing...even the drive there was not bad. We made it in record time - 7 hours and 50 minutes. Quite an accomplishment since we set the cruise on 75 and stopped twice. A good tail wind I guess!
To say the least, we are all quite proud of Josh. Here is Ainsley giving her daddy some celebratory suggies! Congrats Joshua David...but don't let it go to your head...we are not calling you Master! :)

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl!

Already a year and what a sweet, bright spot this precious little girl has added to our lives! What started as a squishy, pink, wrinkly bundle has blossomed into a walking, talking, smiling, pesky little girl that is truly a blessing from God! From her smiles when we go to get her out of her bed, to pulling the books off the shelf, to blowing a zurbert on your leg and then laughing, she has the most precious little personality. And believe me, she has her daddy and her brother right where she wants them...and me for that matter! I pray that the next year brings many more wonderful smiles, memories, and special days. Ainsley, you are so loved!

The Birthday Celebration Begins!

My baby is about to be one! That is just unfathomable to me. Where on Earth did it all go, but what an exciting, fun, and very memorable year it has been with this sweet baby girl in our lives. She is the light of all of our days and can bring a smile to even to most of strangers faces!

Here is the play-by-play of how this first party went. She likes looking at the cake and dragging her tiny finger through the icing...which she then proceeds to lick off and do again. We sing and instead of blowing out the candle, she tries to grab it. Thankfully I got it blown out before she reached the flame. Once in her seat, she was not having anything to do with the cake other than squishing it and rubbing it all over her face! Oh well, we enjoyed the cake and look forward to more fabulous parties to come!

Happy Easter

What fun, what fun! The Easter Bunny came several times to our house. Andrew and Ainsley received wonderful packages from their loved ones in the Panhandle to kick off the festivities. One box was bigger than Ainsley and she was fascinated by it. They LOVE getting packages. They sit on the kitchen floor and play with all the goodies for what seems like hours!

A grand morning of egg hunting was had by all even the littlest one. We headed to San Antonio to spend Easter with my family. The weather was rainy, so we hunted inside. That did not seem to bother the hunters one bit. Jasmine and Andrew were old hat at the egg hunting process, so they took off. Ainsley was a bit unsure at first, but caught one quickly to the whole find an egg, then put it in your basket thing. The Easter Bunny put Gerber Graduate Puffs in her eggs, so she was on a mission to find them and chow down.

Andrew's eggs were filled with either candy, money, or riddles. It is becoming a family tradition to leave riddles masking the location of a larger surprise. Solve the riddle and one will have the location of your treat. He loves these and was so surprised to find a new "Spiderman Bad Guy", a race car track, learning workbooks (which he loves by the way...not just a "Oh, your mom's a teacher" gift), and Yahtzee Jr. What fun, what fun!

Ainsley's New Found Freedom!

With her walking feet under her, Ainsley is now able to entertain herself at outings. At soccer, she found the cones that were not being used at that point in time and made them hers!

Also,she decided that my chair was her chew toy/"I don't like where Mommy put this so I am going to move it" toy. I will say that she has a mind of her own! If she thinks something is not quite as it should be, she takes over and fixes it. In this case, my chair apparently should have been closer to the tree!

At my sister's house, Ainsley discovered stairs and the fact that she can climb them. When no one was looking, she would sneak off and climb a few!

Her new found independence is so fun to watch! She is finding new things everyday, which bring more smiles and laughter for all of us! With her walking legs going for about 2 weeks now, she is getting more and more confident, even attempting a bit of running...from her brother of course!

Our Soccer Star

Pee Wee golf is now over and we are rolling through soccer season. Just like the other Pee Wee sports, the kids rotate through stations each week where they learn to kick, trap, dribble, and shoot. After hearing the station names, who would have guessed we were at soccer. Andrew is having a big time. The kids finally got to play a bit of a game at the end of practice this week. Andrew is in the blue gown, oh I mean jersey. He scored the only goal for his team. When practice was over, he informed us that his team lost 3 to 1...mind you he was the only one who kept score! Anyway, he is loving it and can't wait to play more games. Move over David Beckham!

Fun in the Sand

Out of the blue, Andrew reminded Josh last week that he had not put in the sandbox that was promised to him several months ago. He was correct! So, feeling extremely guilty, we got right on it and put the sandbox in last weekend! After a good spray of Roundup and some elbow grease, we cleared the grass and got things ready for the 600 pounds of sand we got at Lowe's. For as fine as this sand is, man it sure is heavy!!! Andrew LOVES it to say the least and will stay in and play all day if given the opportunity!

Ainsley is now an outdoors girl. No longer are the days she would just sit at the window and watch Andrew play outside. She pushed on the screen so much in one particular window that it is now permanently bent. Ainsley will stand at the back door and squawk until you let her out, like a little puppy, to go play with her brother. She gets more grass stains then Andrew does!

There are many things that keep this boy busy. Certainly playing with his now mobile sister tops the list, but she does slow him down or slobber all over that which he is choosing to play with and then she's out of there! K'Nex are also high on his list. He loves to build the creatures the instructions show him how to make, but he loves to create his own little monsters and then tell you all about them. The teacher in me loves how good this is for his imagination. He used to be hesitant to build them on his own and was always asking Josh to help him, but now he grabs the instruction book and builds them all by himself. This one is a dog he copied from the book!

They grow up so fast!

Is he supposed to be doing that?

Gymnastics lessons are really paying off. Andrew loves to flip, spin, or hang from anything sturdy enough to hold his weight. All who see him preforming his newest feet turn and ask me, "Is he supposed to be doing that?" Even Josh came running in the house asking the first time he witnessed the trick in our back yard. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. And stronger Andrew is getting. To my amazement, he even does pull-ups. I guess if I only weighed 32 pounds, I could do a pull-up too!

A Mover and a Shaker!

Ainsley is a world traveler and explorer these days. She is not at all content to stay in one place...which is not always fun for the mama! She loves to look out the window, when really she would much rather be outside playing...but this day was a bit cool, so the window had to do.
We pulled Andrew's "door" out of the attic and cleaned it up. Ainsley loves it...and so does Andrew. They both enjoy playing with it and answering the doorbell for one another.

She found the 4th of July twirly-whirls and just had to put them on. I tried to tell her she was a bit early, but she would not hear of it. Surprisingly, she left them on for quite some time. Now, we have to put them up because she found they make a fun chew toy.

AINSLEY IS NOW A WALKING MAMA and has been for about 2 weeks now! She has finally got her feet under her and her legs a movin. You all know the new baby walk...the peg-legged leg action with the arms up by the ears for balance. Well, we are there! She loves being mobile and so does Andrew. Now he chases her around the house while she screams and runs from him! I love it...it can bring a smile to any ones face.

Finally Our Prayers Are Answered!

Well, after several grueling months, my parents are living back under the same roof in Palestine, TX. As most of you know, my dad lost his job last June. He found a job as head of food services for Crockett ISD. His new job started this past August, right before the new school year. He is doing a great job and is enjoying being back in operations, but my mom was still in Dallas. Mom took a job in the baby room of a local day care by their house. She got to play with 8 babies, her and another lady, all day long...a Nana's dream come true...while waiting for their house to sell. The fall came and went, the holidays came and went, and then spring arrived, all the while praying that God would bring them a buyer and get the new show on the road! Well, He finally did. In what was a huge domino effect, their buyer's buyer got their house closed, which allowed their buyer to get his house closed, which then allowed the buyer to close on my parent's house, and then for my parents to close on the house they found. Whew! Their new house is a neat old house in the Historical District of Palestine, just up the road from a great new park.
There is one huge piece of jungle gym for 7 to 12 year olds. Andrew, the 4 year old, LOVED it...especially these "monkey bars" that spin around as you cross them!

Ainsley loves to swing. There were also mini jungle gyms for the little ones. We had a hard time getting her off of them. The knees on her little pink pants showed just how much fun she had. Thank goodness for Spray-N-Wash!

Who can resist a slide ride with your brother. Ainsley would go down 100 times if Andrew would stay content that long.

We went and spent the weekend, helping where we could! It was fun. Small town life certainly seems to be something my parents are enjoying, not missing the hub-bub of the big city!