Fall fun and Greyson Michael!

Well, it was so nice to be able to go see my newest nephew on Tuesday. The boys stayed with Blake's parents so it allowed Sadie and I to just hang out in the hospital with my sister and her husband!

Here are some pictures of the visit!

My parents needed a pic of their two newest grandkids!

Sadie at 8 weeks, Grey at 2 days!

I think she looks like a doll here, like she actually is so darn cute she can't be a real baby!

At the hospital I got my first ever, "Are you stealing her?" I haven't heard that one before. I think it was partly because she is small and we don't "match" and I was leaving the newborn "wing"...but come on lady!

Tonight, Blake was on call, but was sweet enough to squeeze in some family time between getting home and having to go back to the hospital for the night. So, he took all of us to the fall festival at our church. It is so much fun, and such a blast to see all of our friends with their kids all dressed up. I was shocked and impressed at all of the daddy's in costume.

Since the boys went as football players (can you guess which players???), I thought it was appropriate that Sadie be their cheerleader. My sister just happened to have a cheerleader outfit! You know I am cheap! It was perfect!

Cooper being his normal crazy self! This guy is a riot!

And this is what you get when you let your husband take the picture! Maybe we'll get a better one tomorrow!

Sadie has been talking so much more and it just melts my heart and makes the world stop around us. Everyone gets quiet to listen. The boys even get a thrill out of her coos!

I got this one of Blake and Sadie "talking". Look at how she's touching his face and intently watching his lips. I love seeing her legs on his chest and how small she is. Watch out daddy, this girls gonna rock your world.

Seriously, she needs to model for OU stuff. She wasn't really fond of the feel of the tutu (I need to figure out how to spell that word), but it was to die for! Thanks GiGi and Papa Joe, and again sorry to all of those Pokes fans that I love out there!

Should be cleaning...

I should be cleaning but need to share some more things!

First, I have a new nephew! I am going to Tulsa tomorrow to go see him, oh yea, and my sister! Here's a pic of the little guy!

Cooper lately has been doing the sweetest thing that he learned from his daddy.

He gets really close to you and whispers, "I unna tell you a secret"

Of course, we reply, "what?"

He grabs your face with both hands and whispers, "I uv you!"

Talk about making me melt! I love you too buddy! Everything about you makes me crazy obsessed and I want to kiss your cheeks off!

We were at the mall on Friday and this lady in the elevator was checking out our clan and saying how cute the kids are. She then asked the boys what their names were...Owen quickly replied, "I'm Owen", then Cooper said in all seriousness, "DeMarco Murray". Blake and I giggled and looked up at the lady. She said, "Guacamole?" It made us laugh even harder. We then explained what he said and that it really wasn't his name! So much for picking cute names for your kids...we should have known if any of them would rename themselves, it would be Cooperman!

Lately, we've (by we, I mean Owen and Cooper) been losing our TV privileges as a method to discipline the boys for poor choices. It works like a charm because they LOVE to just have the TV on. I know, what am I creating??? Anyway, this has led to some other forms of entertainment that I love to see!

Here they are in their "fort" playing roll the ball. I mean, come on, we've got some cool toys! But my kids really don't care about toys! Look at Cooper's face! You know it's hard to draw a line with him and that grin!

Sadie has started coo-ing more and has finally smiled while awake! She is much like Owen and seems to be pretty serious and pretty sleepy! So, when she smiled yesterday and today...we were tickled pink! I have found myself acting like a goon trying to get her to smile!

I have also been working on her room, finally! So, here are the latest things I have done. We did this for the boys with the pictures of their birthmom over their crib. It's not only cool for the kids, but a great reminder for us of how blessed we are through adoption.

Since Sadie's initials are all "S" I have decided to not over do it and just do one! I like it!

And this is my favorite wall now!

And just in case you forgot how adorable she was... our little princess!

Oh My! Oh My!

Well, we have several things to share...none of them as truly exciting as what happened this afternoon, so I will start there!



We decided to take an outing to the zoo because we just wanted to get out and the boys (including Blake) LOVE the zoo! So, we were chasing the boys around and they love being free at the zoo (can you picture it??). All of the sudden, we look up and couldn't believe our eyes! It was Momma Mandy!!!!



For those of you that don't know, that's the boys' birthmom. We have not seen her in FOREVER! It was such a blessing, such a God thing that we literally ran into her! She died seeing the boys, of course she gets updates and pictures, we talk on the phone and send email...but seeing them is just so much better! I couldn't quit hugging her and I wanted to pinch myself that God ochestrated this! Thank you Lord...we all needed to see her! I could go on and on about her, but will save your ears (eyes I guess??). She's fabulous and more than we could ever ask for. Cooper told her he was DeMarco Murray and when we parted he gave her a hug and a kiss. Owen was a bit more cautious (as he normally is-like his daddy!) and just talked and showed off!




Last night we had our annual Deaconess hayride in Norman. It was so much fun to see all our adoption buddies and of course the hayride, fire, weenie roast and smores were wonderful too! Here are some pictures from that! I didn't do a great job with pics, our hands were kind of full trying to keep the kids out of the fire, but still enjoying the night!


Cooper got a little nervous about the hayride-which is shocking because he's our dare devil, so I took advantage of the fear and cuddled him like crazy!



The best daddy ever making smores for the boys...and he doesn't even like smores! I know, who doesn't like smores?)



Little Miss just slept through about the whole thing, but we all sure enjoyed being able to share our latest blessing!




We got to see our friend Turner again! If you haven't checked out his blog, he's linked on the right...such a pumpkin and he's a Deaconess baby too! (Shameless plug!) Oh yea, and those are his parents, Chassidy and John!


Owen wanting to feed Sadie and love on her! Notice where the bottle is, she's such a trooper! You can tell she's a little nervous about what's happening!


The boys got their flu shots on Saturday and as a treat got a sticker (it amazes me what a sticker does for a child!). They gave their stickers to their sister...are they not precious little boys!?!?!

Me just wanting a pic with my DAUGHTER! Still can't believe I have a daughter! Isn't she getting big! I must say she's gorgeous, even naked!

Okay, we'll have to post more later...I gotta run to the store! Love you all!

Adoption update!

Well, we got exciting news that the paternity hearing was for today for Sadie and the birthfather's rights were terminated today!

Many of you don't know how this works...here's a quick rundown of domestic adoption.

Parental rights for both birthmom and birthfather have to be either terminated or relinquished.

Once this happens, our agency then monitors us for 6 months until it is determined that the child is in a safe environment and doing well. So really, right now we are kind of like foster parents in that we don't have full custody of her, the agency does. (Correct me Deaconess girls if any of you are reading this).

At this point the birthparents cannot "change their mind". I can't tell you how many people worry about this for us. As long as we don't flunk this next 6 months, she will officially become a Shockley sometime early next year!!! So, Tuesday we have our first post-placement visit at our agency (one of 3 to be done before we are released to adopt her).

Thank you for all of your prayers for today and for our sweet children!

Catching up!

Sorry to have to play catch up, but I have been a little selfish with my time lately and haven't updated everybody! The picture above was our attempt to get a family snapshot. It wasn't very successful, but kind of funny. I think we'll need to wait until someone can take it for us!

First, our sweet baby girl turned 6 weeks on Wednesday! I took these cute pictures of her to document. It's been so fun watching her start to get bigger and make eye contact, focus and listen to our voices. She is feeling much better as far as the reflux goes, but you can still tell it bothers her at times when we lay her down. She is sleeping in her bouncy seat for now (so much for me saying my kids don't use these things!!!)

Cooper wanting to hold her. I am telling you these boys are OBSESSED with Sadie Skielar!

On Thursday, my sweet honey turned 29! He is in mourning about what will happen next year! For some odd reason I can't wait to be 30 and he's not in the same boat! Here's a picture from his birthday dinner! Happy birthweek honey!

We packed up Friday morning and headed to Tulsa to see my family. Blake had to stay home because he's been working with the OU team doctor (so sad for Blake, wink, wink!) and they had a home game that he needed to "work". If you see Blake, ask him about his doctoring skills with Cooper's favorite player, DeMarco Murry!

My parents invited their families and some friends over to meet Sadie, so here are some of the pictures from last night. We had so much fun showing her off! I didn't do a great job of taking pictures because I was having so much fun talking with everyone. We have wonderful friends and families that have prayed with us and for us and our children.

All 8 of my parent's grandchildren! How cool is that? Now, we'll have to get Greyson in here in another couple of weeks when he gets here!

One of the sweetest little men I know. I could eat you up Sutton Grant! You steal my heart! Julie and Hess Hester. Hess is the pastor who married Blake and I and they pastor our church in Tulsa. Are they not adorable???

You can tell how proud my dad is in this picture! I love it! This is my dad's sister, my Aunt Evie!The kids eating some chili! These three are at the stage where they fight like they are siblings. That's a good sign of great friendship! I love it!
Oh my goodness! Could that smile be any sweeter? I love you Ragon! Thanks for loving baby Sadie!

I love to slow down!

It amazes me how good it feels to just slow down. To say "no" to everyone and just be home and be family feels oh so good to me.

Sounds like I am not very social, maybe I'm not. But, I think it's good for our kids to get our undivided attention sometimes. We sure needed to do that seeing how we've added another adorable member to our clan.

So, that's what this weekend was about. We went to the park 3 times I believe. We all smelled like 3rd grade boys. You know, that dirt smell that's not quite B.O., but just windblown and a little sweat??? It was great!

We made sugar cookies and iced them and then ate them up before they even cooled. We searched for leaves and nuts and rocks, dug in the dirt and played catch with some fruit nut from a tree. Then we had a picnic, or attempted to do so...you know how Cooper is about sitting down to eat!

This next one is of Cooper losing it when I told the boys we had to head home. If you haven't seen how well Cooper can fake cry, you've gotta check it out. A woman near by watched me take a picture of him and then said, "He's hurt isn't he?" I assured her he wasn't but was just putting on a show for us all!

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of seeing Mommy G again. It was so good to see her as we missed her terribly. We went to a park and let the boys play so that she could love on Sadie Skielar. We got some really great pictures, but you'll be glad to know I only took about 30 this time! The boys did great and were not hesitant at all about sharing their sister with Mommy G. I was a little concerned they might not understand or be afraid. They have no idea that she cannot change her mind. They made me so proud. When we had to pack up and leave Owen wanted to know if Mommy G could come with us. He wanted to know where she lived. He is so sensitive and wants to make sure everyone is okay. He made me melt!

Can you see what her onesie says? Isn't that adorable?!?! Thanks Aunt Jamie and Uncle Brent! The boys love showing off their baby sister! Notice Owen giving her a kiss? Too cute!

Blake took our family of 5 out to dinner afterwards. We had not attempted this yet with Sadie. It was so much fun. The boys had root beer floats for the first time and loved them!

We are getting into such a busy time of year and that's the only thing I dread about fall. So, please know that if I say no to you, it's not because I don't love you or want to be with you...it's because I have prayed all my life to be where I am today, I don't want to get so busy that I don't enjoy what God has blessed me with!