Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Jacked Up!

Probably the most interesting part about having a three year old is the funny stuff that they come up with or repeat. Tonight Shelby had my ear bud headphones and they were tangled in a knot. She brought them to Ross and said, "Daddy can you fix these they are all jacked up". Ross and I died laughing. And then she said, "Mommy jacked them up". Tonight after Shelby read me a story. Yes, she pretty much knew it word for word! I was saying goodnight and closing her door when she said, "Mommy can I tell you something (I said yes), can you clean my playroom, I don't want Granny to see it". Heaven help me I live with 2 clean freaks!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Zoo Time

Last Friday Shelby, Granny Bananny, and I headed out to the zoo. Mom wanted to do a trip with Shelby and what we had originally planned ended up not working out so we headed to the zoo. It was a great time and the perfect day to go. Shelby had a blast and loved all the animals. She loved the squirrels and the "free" birds just as much :). Since it was such a beautiful day the animals were out and curious. The huge oraguntan sat about 2 inches infront of the glass and just stared at all the little kids including Shelby. I tried to get a picture of this but was not successful. I would have to say that he looked like he was Shelby's cousin with his crazy hair. The lions were all sitting right infront of the glass too and I got a picture of the girl lions with Shelby. Shelby loved all the little monkeys and decided they were "so cute, and so sweet". We ate lunch at a restaurant and got to eat infront of the rhinos. Shelby thought she could call them so she kept saying, "here Rhino". Probably the most fun that she had was going into the petting zoo and playing with the goats. The zoo provides brushes for the kids to use to brush the goats and Shelby took full advantage and brushed one of the goats. On our way out we hopped aboard the train that goes around Hermann park. It was a nice ride and Shelby loved it and the train whistle that she got. Needlesss to say, we did not make it very far out of the parking lot when I heard the smaking of Shelby sucking her thumb....she was out! Thanks to Granny for a fun trip!
To Uncle Wayne - flat Stanley went to the zoo with us....I will send you the pics.
Swim lesson update....Grandma and Grandpa Johnson got to go to Shelby's makeup lesson on Saturday. Sadly, it was not Ms. Tracy teaching so the teacher did not know that Shelby could float well and held her most of the time and they didn't get to do any of the fun stuff. She has never had a lesson where they didn't dive for rings at the end, put the ring on their head and sing their goodbye song. It was kind of a bust but today was TOTALLY different. They put little flippers on the kids. The other little girls did their swimming to Ms. Tracy and it didn't make a difference. Shelby went for her first turn and she did really well. In fact, the next two times Shelby went, Ms. Tracy backed up to the middle of the pool. Shelby swam all the way to her and then rolled over on her back and floated. Ms. Tracy was SO excited and gave Shelby lots of hugs and high fives. I wouldn't have believed it if I had not seen it for myself. I guess she has her daddy's tree trunks and has some power in them. So proud of you Shelby!



Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Surprise!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. I am actually blogging. There is no way to go back and tell you everything. Way too much has gone on and I haven't had time to do this.

Shelby is staying busy with school 2 days a week and swim lessons 2 days a week. She has turned into a regular fish or as she and her daddy say, "a crocodile". She is doing great at it and they can throw her in the water and she pops up, flips on her back and floats, and floats, and floats. She goes down the slide into the pool and pops up and gets on a mat in the pool and jumps off the jungle gym (the castle) in the middle of the pool and pops up onto a mat. She floats to the side of the pool and when her head touches she grabs the side of the pool and turns over. Needless to say we feel a little better about her water safety skills. A three year old little girl drowned this week in Katy in her neighbor's pool so it hits home that she needs these skills.

Shelby is also enjoying her school. They do the most fun of activities and the teachers are very creative. Who knew you could freeze paint in ice cube trays and hold them in your hand and paint? I think she has decided that home is boring, which it is. Although, she can be a homebody and often we will be out and she will say, "mommy, let's go home and rest". She has lots of little friends (mostly boys) in her class and they have a blast and are very sweet to each other. The moms are great too and there is one mom that I have a great time planning their holiday parties, etc. with. Her little boy is only a week younger than Shelby and is super tall and blonde. We already have them married off and Ross told her he was going to try and intimidate him when they start dating. Shelby will be going to school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday next year. She LOVES it!

Shelby still loves to walk down the sidewalk to Chapman's house and play with him. Chapman is now talking, so we will be getting out of the car and hear, "SHELBY, KIM" and here comes Chapman running across the grass. He is so cute and gives me lots of loving. Shelby and Chapman play so well together and are like brother and sister. Well, if Shelby had a red headed brother. Rumor is that Chapman will be moving to Oklahoma some time in the next year. Wonder how long it will take his parents to realize that Shelby and I have snatched him?

Ross is doing well and has been busy. One, we remodeled a house to flip. That was weeks of work on Ross' part. The house turned out great and is showing well and getting great feedback. We have had three people want the house but when push came to shove they couldn't get a mortgage. The days of everyone getting a mortgage are certainly gone. Two, he has been hunting a lot. Actually, if he doesn't get to hunt at least every other week he pouts. I have to give him, "most people don't get to hunt every weekend like you do". He is still taking his APICS certification class and he takes his first exam next month. There are 5 or 6 tests (I can't remember which) and he has to get an A on each to get his certification. He can take each test as many times as needed. The good thing is BAE pays for it all and once he gets his certification it is very valuable on a resume. His company is still up in the air as to whether they are going to make it. They have work thru September and then we don't know. Funny thing is neither one of us are worried. Should the plant shut down we know God will provide. I was at my parents house tonight and told mom that we could be moving in, in the fall. They have two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a gameroom upstairs that hasn't been used since my sister left for college. I told mom I would make dinner every night and Ross would do the dishes....she wanted to know when we wanted to move in. By the way, I am just joking about moving in with my parents so no one get excited because my dad said he would rent us a house before he let us move in. I think it has something to do with the fact that Ross is a clean freak! Just kidding, we will make it as always. My mom and dad said they don't ever worry about us because they said I'm just like my grandfather and that I can make money out of a bucket of dirt. My high school volleyball coach referred to that as being "scrappy".

Speaking of the wonderful economy....I continue to list foreclosures for banks. Most of my houses are owned by Bank of America. I am presently prepping two for market. It is sad to meet the locksmith at a house and when the locksmith gets the door open you see all of these items that the family left behind. I went out to meet the locksmith on a house today and there was lots of toys, a big screen tv, clothes, shoes.....very sad. The other one that I am prepping is not vacant. I have squatters living in it. The funny thing is it is 2 doors down from my grandparents and when I called to tell my grandmother that BofA now owned the house and I was taking over she was very excited. Lots of illegal activity, etc. has been going on at that house since it was sold to the people that lost it. I am working on getting the squatters out of the house so we can get it on the market and get rid of it.

And speaking of houses....my little sister, Kristen, is buying her first house. She closes on the 25th and is very excited. My grandmother has been her real estate broker. Shelby and I drove by the house with my mom but we did not go in. Mom told us where the bedrooms are and Shelby picked hers out. Aunt Keke - Shelby would like her room painted pink please. I think my parents are excited to get there cabin back. I guess they are getting rid of their squatter too. LOL - love you Kristen! Kristen did not take that well, I promise.

Gotta go eat some dinner! I know there is no pictures. I will post some soon.