Time to celebrate....

Two of our very best friends in the whole world are finally {FINALLY} getting married!!!  We have been waiting for them to get engaged for what seems like forever.  Lastnight we went to their house for dinner, and they gave me permission to formally announce this finally as{we have already known now for while}.  I am so happy for them!  Ramona and Brian-congratulations!!!  We love both of you and can't wait for the wedding, planning, fun, all of it!  It is certainly time to celebrate.  Congratulations and hugs hugs hugs!  Woot woot!

{He sold us out}

We took Brayden to a buffet the other night.  A buffet that actually charges for age 2 and up!  I thought we had at least another year. Moving on......I leaned over to Ron and mentioned that I thought that was ridiculous to have to pay 8$ for Bray to eat three bites of mac and cheese and a chicken finger or two at most!  He agreed.  The waitress came over to play with Brayden and she asked how old he was.  Ron nonchalantly replied: "oh-he's almost two".  {ha ha}!  Right!  I then got up to go get my dinner and from across the restaurant I could see that the waitress had gone back to the table to play with Bray again.  What's worse is that while she was at the table I could hear him from across the restaurant loudly proclaiming to her....

"  I Two-  I Twoooooooo- I twooooooooooo!!!!"

He totally sold us out.

  {lesson learned}

Getting Creative...

We have really been working on Brayden learning all of his colors these last few weeks. He knows Red, Orange, Yellow, Pink, Blue, Brown & sometimes Green depending on his mood of course! He has been doing very well, and he says them so adorably. Yellow is actually (ellow), Orange is (oren), and everything else is pretty spot on! We have a confession though, we have been bribing encouraging his love for learning colors with none other than these fun treats.

It has worked wonders! He also enjoys Reeses pieces too!

Hey-whatever works right?

Austin's Birthday ...

Sunday we went to my brother Sean's house to celebrate my nephew Austin's birthday. We had so much fun catching up with everyone and visiting. Brayden had tons of fun. He also got to open some belated birthday gifts himself...so of course-he thought that was very cool.

What a beautiful family day everyone had together.

I love days like these...

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Charleigh's Angels...

This weekend we went to participate in the "Wheels around the Park" 2009 walk to support children with Down Syndrome.  Very good friends of ours-{practically family}, have a little girl named Charliegh who was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.  She is a complete doll baby.  We all went as "Charliegh's Angels" to show our support.  It was a day full of love, laughter and the making of beautiful memories.  After the walk-we went to Brandi's house-{Charlieghs Aunt} to hang out with the Charleigh's Angels gang before we all headed out to La Bella Sicilia for dinner to celebrate Charleigh's day, as well as our good friends Von and Chris' birthdays.  We had such a wonderful, beautiful day.  We are so grateful they invited us to participate in this day with all of them.  They are our extended family here in Jamestown, and we love them more than words can describe. They are all such beautiful, supportive and loving, kind people.  We are blessed to have been able to experience and share this day with all of them.  We love you guys!!!

Thank you!

Here is a slideshow I made to document the day...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Growth & Happiness...

Growth is something that is inevitable.  You experience growth everyday in some way.  I love growing.  I don't always like the strides it takes to get there, but upon the reflection of it, I really do love it.  I also love watching growth take place, especially when it comes to my little one.  Reflecting took me to a photo of him from this time of year in 2007.  He was only a mere 1 month old. 

This brings me to Happiness.  We all experience happiness everyday in some way.  I love happiness.  I don't always like the strife it takes to get there, but upon reflection of it, I really do love it.  I also love watching happiness take place, especially when it comes to Brayden.  I experience daily happiness when I get to see this happy little face.

Life is not always about plans going perfectly.  It is not always full of harmony and calm.  It is however,  always teaching us something wonderful.  It is constantly leading us to better things.  If you look closely enough-you realize that God is always bringing us closer to more growth & happiness.  I am embracing my strengths, growth and happiness these days more than I have in my entire life.  I am feeling the harmony, and the calm.  I am feeling grateful, blessed, excited, humbled and....well.....Happy! 

-Shannon 

I {heart} Decorating...

So, I have been dreaming and {as many of you already know} am planning my next decorating projects {if you will}.  I know, that sounds so professional...and I am hardly a professional decorator-but I do love to do it-and on a budget, so that makes it even more fun.  I love looking at photos to gather ideas for my little idea decorating book I have.  I stockpile it full of things I plan to do.  I have been bad at my execution lately-but life sometimes has a way of throwing us curveballs.  I have had one of those for the last 6 months...but am finally at the point again where I can start to dream about what is on the horizon for our lives, and for my decorating.  Speaking of curveballs...I am LOVING this adorable toddler bed for Brayden.  {I know I have changed my mind several times on this bed situation, but I think this is THE ONE}. 

Next project:
The Dining room set. 
I need to paint it.
I want to paint it. 
I will paint it...BLACK!
Something like this from Memories on Clover Lane.  She did a brilliant job. 

I am also thinking these awesome little chairs from Target would fit nicely on our livingroom and the colors would compliment our chocolate leather sofa.  We did not purchase a loveseat and find that we absolutely need more seating...I am thinking I will need 2 of these beauties...and I love the chaise below too....

The Bedroom: I love this comforter. Sams Club had them for awhile, but I will need to go elsewhere for it now...but I adore it.  The colors are so soothing too. It is perfect for the color scheme I have been daydreaming about for the master Bedroom.

Finally, ottomans.  I {heart} ottomans also...and am loving this one {which I am pretty sure I could make}.

Happy Decorating!!!