Her cuts and milestones!

Well, the boys needed a "her cut" as we call it. That name came from the first time I cut Owen's hair and he said, "My her!" while he touched his newly-near-bald head!

So here they are showing you their locks on the ground. Goodness I love their hair...I never have to worry about cutting off curls that won't come back! I can always run my hands through their curly hair! Another good thing about curly hair...you can't tell if the cut is not perfect!

Cooper showing off his new cut (Owen didn't want to have his picture taken!) You can't really see the hair after-all but I love the close-up!

This video is from the same night. I was inside waiting for Sadie to fall asleep and I heard loud belly laughs and had to grab the camera. This is what I got...they truly are best buds!

For milestones, Sadie is now holding her bottle...

And she can sit up without her boppy around her buns...

She is loving being able to sit on the ground and play with her toys! I love it!

With the great weather and Sadie sitting up so well, we put her in a stroller and let Cooper push her up and down the street. I was close behind seeing that he's only 2!

She is reaching out for people to hold her (mostly to her daddy) and yesterday she pulled his shirt when he was walking away from her. It was SO cute! I love seeing how much she adores him and lights up when he walks in the door, but also how this strong man becomes quite the mush-ball around her (is that a word?).

Tonight the boys are spending the night with Blake's parents so that we can attend the trans-racial parenting workshop tomorrow with Sadie. I am so excited to learn some new stuff and share our info! They plan on having these throughout the year, so maybe some of you that can't attend tomorrow can come next time!

So, Sadie and I are having a girls date with daddy tonight! How fun!

New talent...

Soaking up some sun! What a beautiful couple of days it's been!

Like every parent, I think my children are beyond talented.

I am sorry, but just about everything they do amazes me.

I have been trying to catch the boys fully dressed dancing because it's quite possibly the cutest thing you've ever seen! We dance daily just to get a good giggle in.

My hopes are they will have a little more talent than their mommy when it comes to rhythm and dancing.

Blake can actually dance really well, it's just his taste in music and convincing him to do so that is the challenge! He does dance with the guys though...so funny to watch the 3 of them boogy in the living room! Can you picture it?

So while I wait for the day for these guys to dance WITH clothes on...here is Sadie bug with her new "trick" as Owen calls it. I try and remind him she's not a dog with tricks!

Sadie and Owen blowing bubbles...

They have such a sweet love for each other already!

So, sorry for the poor taping and bad lighting, but here she is...and you can hear her! Yahoo, she does make noise! My sweet baby girl...

And below is Sadie's first ride in the swing outside! I think she liked it, what do you think?

This may not work...

but I have to try!

My friend Terra posted about a Pay It Forward exchange. My only concern is that my few readers are also her readers and no one is really going to comment because they already did on hers or Kim's. We'll see!

I love the idea of paying it forward. It excites me in so many ways just to think of making someone smile that wasn't expecting to smile. I really don't think of myself as a lover of gifts, but I sure do like surprises and to surprise others. So here goes!

For those that are interested you can get be a part of this.

Here are the official rules:

I will send a gift to the first 3 people who comment on this post. All gifts will be made and sent out sometime in the next year.

How exciting to not know when your package will arrive. What you need to do in return is to pay it forward by making the same promise on your website or blog. This exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PROMISE TO POST THIS SAME "PAY IT FORWARD" MESSAGE ONTO YOUR BLOG, WHICH MUST BE ACTIVE IN ORDER TO PLAY. YOU WILL PAY IT FORWARD TO THE FIRST THREE PEOPLE WHO COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG.

The gifts are supposed to be handmade. I know a lot of you are thinking you can't get in on this because you aren't "crafty". If you really want to get in on this but cannot create a handmade gift yourself, then support a person who does have a handmade crafty kind of business. Buy a gift from them, don't just head out to a chain store, understand?!

Have fun paying it forward! Let's see if anyone wants to play and I can't wait to come up with a cool gift for you!

Every post must have at least one adorably cute picture of one of my kids! I mean come on, what are you really here for anyway? Still loving these close-ups if I do say so myself!

Home sweet home

The sad thing is it took me a long time for this town to feel like home.

It feels good to be happy here with my little growing family unit...for this to be our home sweet home.

Although I miss my family dearly and secretly wish we could all live on the same street...it feels good to love our life here too.

I am so blessed to have my family only a little over an hour away. And I know it's silly to spend time sad I am not closer. I truly am blessed!

We sure enjoyed our visit to Tulsa this weekend. Although it was cut short due to sick kids, it was still wonderful and full of fun.

Eating dinner with the Grunewalds. The boys all had so much fun playing outside together...and Laura and I so enjoyed the quiet house! Laura is due with baby Luke in 7 weeks!

Playing soccer in Noonie and Papa's empty pool! What a fun idea guys!

Sadie's in love with her older brothers. In the picture above, she smiled like this when Cooper simply walked past her!

She just LOVES watching them and she gets a kick out of them singing to her and talking to her.
Although they are not perfect, they are perhaps the most incredible big brothers I have ever seen! Makes this momma quite proud!

Seriously, she takes my breath away. There just aren't words to describe what I feel for her. Just like with every child, it's such an intense love that it just makes me cry and thank God for choosing us for her and her for us.

Tonight and over the weekend my heart has been heavy for some friends. If you could please pray for Kyle and Katie. You may not know their story, but God does and they sure would appreciate prayers over their hearts as they mourn the loss of their daughter.

Needing to smile?

I caught some sweet pictures of Sadie smiling yesterday and had to share.

She loves her new doggy from our friend Keely. Thanks Keely for the sweet Valentines!

Her face just lights up every time she smiles...it's this big!

But, she hardly ever makes a noise and you'd think a smile this big came with a squeal.

She has times when she can be loud, but for the most part...she's a quiet gal.

I hesitate to say that because when Cooper was this age I told several people that I thought he was going to be my quiet baby. HA!

Owen was such a talker from day one, that when Cooper was relatively quiet I thought he was going to be more shy....I couldn't have been more wrong! Whoa is this dude loud!

Both Owen and Cooper are quite talkative for boys...so I should know better than to try and predict Sadie's personality at this point.

I might be like my mother and have to call it quits at four. She told my dad one day, "We can't have any more...they talk too much!" They wanted six...not knowing the first 4 would be GIRLS! I tend to think they stopped with me knowing it just couldn't get any better than me! LOL!

Sorry this one is fuzzy, but the shoes she is wearing are actually ones that my mom kept. All of us girls wore these sandals back in the day! They are a bit big, but I didn't want to forget to put them on her!

Thanks Aunt Jamie and Savannah for all of our new clothes! We are loving them if you can't tell!

Hope you love the pictures as much as we do! We are heading north tomorrow to see my family for 4 days. You've figured this out by now how I handle Blake's schedule...just keep leaving town!

Love, love, love!

I've had an incredibly fun week!


It started on Tuesday with tornadoes running through town and I found myself in the utility room with 3 kids and the dog. If I had only had the mind to take a picture! It was hilarious as I buckled Sadie in her car seat carrier, Owen sported his bike helmet while Cooper wore his football helmet. I was coaching them on how to duck and cover their backs with pillows when we lost power. The worst part about this was that now we could hear the tornado's wind and the sirens blaring. We all were nervous and Cooper decided, in his normal manner, to make us all giggle by relieving himself of some gas. What a little stinker he is! I love having boys!


We made it through fine and made some great memories in that room!


Early Wednesday morning my mom came in to help watch the kids so that I could head to Dallas with some college friends for some much needed down time! We had a blast and I came back with energy, new hair, polished nails and ready for Valentine's Day!


This is a pic of me getting my hair cut from the loudest woman I have ever heard. And that's saying a lot because I know I am loud being one of 4 sisters!

Thanks to Blake for funding this trip for me, Gigi, Papa and Noonie for watching the kids so that I could get away, and to Angela and Misty for your incredible friendship!


You'd never know it but Angela (the one standing) is 38 weeks pregnant with #4! She amazed me with her energy and happy mood! You're a trooper Angela! We can't wait to find out what you're having...I am voting for a little Molly Collins! *wink, wink*

Blake's had the weekend off! Thank you to all of you that commented and have prayed for us during this rough couple of months! Your encouragement has been so incredible and we've been so blessed as we've been staying busy while he's busy! Now, Blake on the other hand is completely worn out...but we always joke that it's his fault for choosing this profession! I know, I have lots of sympathy, huh?


So we've enjoyed the last couple of days loving on each other and celebrating Valentine's as a family! The guys bought Sadie and I flowers for Valentine's and my gift to Blake won the most romantic of the year award! If you know Blake and I, you know that purchased gifts are not really our love language. So we usually don't do gifts. But I thought of something that Blake needed that would be rather cheap...yeah right! His garage door opener cost $110! OOPS! But he loved the idea of it and was very understanding (as he always is)!




Also, we took Micah up on his challenge and hope you do too! Find someway this week to make someone that might be lonely or hurting feel loved. Check out his website if you haven't already...he's sure making me think and teach my kids about being the hands and feet of Christ! We hope to keep finding ways to do this throughout the year!

Oh, my heart!

So I have to journal this moment...I don't ever want to forget it.

Owen made me cry....happy, sweet tears though.

Tears of joy and thanks.

I was feeding Sadie while the boys were playing with Blake.

I could hear Owen calling me, but I didn't respond as Sadie was drifting to sleep in my arms.

He wasn't crying, just looking for me.

Our house isn't big...I knew he could find me easily.

He walked into Sadie's room and it was dark so he turned her nightlight on (so sweet that he knew the big light would be too bright for her).

He walked to us and told her, "I sure do love you Sadie", and smooched her on the head.

He started singing this song he sings to her..."Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, sleep, sleep, sle-ep!"

While he was singing to her he was rubbing her head trying to get her to fall asleep. It actually woke her up more, but I couldn't stop him...it was priceless.

After he finished singing he said...

"Sleep tight sister. Tomorrow's gonna be a fun day . It's gonna be nice outside and we're gonna play football. We're going have a family day. And you know that God is in your heart Sadie. I sure do love you."

As he was walking out he turned the nightlight back off and said, "Sadie you sure are a sweet sweet girl!"

By this time I have tears streaming down my face. I couldn't say anything but just watch him.

Oh, Lord...thank you for these sweet, incredible children. Help me to teach them to be like you. Help me to be an example of your love for them. Give me peace and patience, mercy and a gentle spirit. Help me to remember how tender they are. Remind me that these baby years will pass so quickly and that I need to slow down and take in each moment. More than anything may they see the love I have for you and want nothing more than to have a relationship with you. Thank you will never be enough for the miraculous ways you brought them to me!

What's this?

Cooper loves to help me unload the dishwasher.


I love to have him help. There's just something about those chubby hands working so hard to help...


So, I gave him the sucker-thingy that gets the grease out of the pan and told him what drawer to put it in.


I noticed he stopped and stared at it.


I watched him as he said, "Mom, does this go in my nose? I gots some boogers!"


And yes, I let him attempt to use it himself as a booger bulb!


I was laughing so hard when I took the picture I didn't even tell him what it really was for...besides, what do you call that thing anyway???

5 months!

Notice the outfit change in between these two? It took me 3 shirts before we got a good one without spit-up! And of course, changing the shirt automatically changes the coordinating colors and we needed a new bow! Dressing a girl is exhausting!

Sadie is 5 months old now and we can hardly believe how big she's getting!

We are thinking she's around 13 lbs (we don't own a scale, sorry!)

She's started SCREAMING! The boys told me, "Sissy screams like Ragon!"

This is how the boys are when Sadie is up. I am trying to teach them about personal space, but it doesn't seem to be getting through!

I died because as much as I adore my niece, she has an ear-piercing scream that scares me to death every time I hear it! I laughed so hard that the boys thought of her when Sadie screamed!

She is on all four's rocking trying to crawl!

She loves standing while holding your hands and if you pull forward on her hands she takes steps! The boys love watching this!

COOPER

Cooper is every bit of a two year old little boy (snot included). This morning we had a little struggle with a bad attitude. I told him we needed to pray that God would help him have a better attitude. While I was praying with him, he shouted, "I don't want a better attitude!"

HA! If that's not 2 for you, what is?

OWEN

Owen....my sweet Owen! This guy could not be more like his daddy. It's amazing to watch the two of them together. Cooper thinks his dad's pretty stinking cool, but Owen pretty much hangs on Blake's every word and move. Owen is so sensitive and picks up on everything! He wants to make sure everyone is okay and taken care of...that is if there's not a toy involved! He might take you to the ground if you've got a toy he might like! We are working on this and I am hoping it's a stage!

Sadie has started to suck in her bottom lip like she's an old lady that lost her teeth! It's adorable!

Hey, hey, hey....good-bye!

***This picture does not match this post in anyway, but I had to share it to make you smile!"""

Ugh...

We've hit that dreaded time of year again where we will see very little of Blake.

We know the next 11 weeks are going to be rough.

We know there will be several days in a row that will go by where the kids won't see him at all.

But as I write that, I realize how fortunate I am that my husband isn't overseas fighting for my freedom. There are several far worse jobs that I can think of with worse hours and little safety!

He's in the same city, and safe and at some point will sleep next to me at night.

I also realize that I am fortunate to have him at all.

I am blessed to have an incredible marriage and enjoy spending everyday with my best friend.

I am blessed to call myself a Shockley!

So, as sad as I am that his hours will be over 90 per week, I have a million things to be thankful for.

Please remind me of this if I get crabby! Don't let me complain!

Here are some pics from this week...Blake took two days off to spend with us before the poo starts!

Thursday we drove to Tulsa to see my family...got some sweet pictures of cousin Sutton loving on Sadie!

Blake took the boys to ride the Amtrak from Oklahoma City to Purcell.

Boy did they have fun! It was only $16 for all 3 of them to ride for the 40 minute trip!

Not something we'd do everyday, but what a great treat for boys!

We love you Blake! You are the best daddy in the world and you make us feel so loved and important in your life. We love how you come home as soon as you possibly can to hang out with us. We are sad and will miss you deeply, but know that's only because you're so stinking fun to be with! See you in May!