wow!

ok, so it has been awhile since the last time i posted a blog! sorry about that! we have actually been kinda busy around here. last wednesday the whole family went out for a fun play day at the mall. Ireland loves to play at the playplace... chloe doesn't really care where she is. I get to take Ireland to the mall pretty often to play, but daddy doesn't usually get to come. so it was a special treat to have him come too. Ireland loved showing off for him and showing all the fun stuff she can do there by herself!
Then on Friday we took a little vacation to Texas for a few days. We really wanted to show off the van! So we went down to Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Kelly's and Gran's house. We had lots of fun! It was AWESOME to travel in the van! soooo much nicer than the saturn... we actually had room for our suitcases! The girls did great on the road (they always do). slept and played the whole time!
We did really enjoy ourselves in Texas. Ireland loved to play with Connor. they get along so good! Connor doesn't mind her tagging along! Uncle Danny came up from Austin on sunday to say hi and ireland loved that! she loves her Uncle Danny lots!!
Aunt Kelly and Uncle Lawrence got a new puppy for Christmas, LillyBell. Ireland had a lot of fun with her. she wasn't too sure sometimes when LillyBell got crazy, but she still liked her. Chloe really wanted to play with the puppy all the time... but she was a little to rough for LillyBell... she liked to grab the puppy's face a lot! and it was next to impossible to keep the dog toys out of Chloe's mouth! i think she liked them more than LillyBell!
we got home on Monday night. it was a real nice vacation.
Chris went back to work on tuesday... but he was there about 30 minutes and they sent him home for the day. i took this opportunity to go to the grocery store. so chris was at home in charge of both the girls. not something to worry about.... but this time they had lots of fun while i was gone... when i got home i noticed that Ireland had gotten something in her hair... it was sticking up all funny and kind of hard. so i asked daddy what happened and all he said was, "Go look on the video camera..." so, i did... and i found some very funny stuff.
Chris thought Ireland would enjoy playing with some shavingcream! and she sure did! oh the fun things you do with daddy!
so, that has been the last week and a half for the Shellaby's! pretty busy and fun!

we got a new car!!!!

well, it is actually a new van! that's right folks... we bought a mini van. and let me tell you how much chris LOVES driving it to work! just kidding, he doesn't like it at all really. but he is happy to have the more room and a car that isn't about to fall apart! and pretty soon we should be getting him a car of his own... that isn't so "mom-like"!!!

i really do love it. it is sooo nice to not have to squeeze the girls into a small car anymore... and we can all go to the grocery store and have room for the groceries! it is amazing what i get excited about now!

anyways, the girls are doing great. Ireland just got a new haircut. i decided that her hair was just too long in the back and the sides were too short. it kind of looked like a mullet... so i cut the back pretty short to even up with the sides. and i cut her some bangs too. and if i do say so myself, it looks pretty dang cute! i think it made her look a lot older because it looks like a "real" haircut. i was surprised her daddy said it was ok to cut it, because he loved her hair getting long... but he likes it too. it looks like a cute little bob! i love it!

chloe is starting to talk a lot. she just jabbers none stop now. i think she is really trying to talk to ireland sometimes. and chloe is starting to be a little bit more aggressive with ireland. if a toy gets taken away from chloe, lets just say she can get it back... ireland isn't a big fan of the new chloe, but she'll get use to it i guess!

Chloe has a little hippo toy that she can walk behind and she is doing pretty good at that... i think she will be walking sooner than i want her to be! i would love for her to stay the little baby she is right now! well, i guess she isn't too little... we just found out she is 20 lbs!!! chris got a scale (yippie) and she is really growing! Ireland is getting bigger too. she is 27.5 lbs! it is hard to believe she started out at 5 lbs.

well, that is about it! oh, i am entering the girls into "Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Contest" so keep your eye out for thier pictures... if you watch that show... they might be on tv!!!!

this is why we "love" Oklahoma!!!

i don't know if any of you have been watching the weather channel... but if you have, you know that there is some pretty nasty weather around the Oklahoma and Texas area... ice storms and such. well, we are stuck right smack in the middle of it! we have been stuck in the house for the past 3 days!!! and let me just tell you what... Ireland is starting to go NUTS!!! and so am i. and to make things even more super, Chris has CQ duty (i don't know what that means) and he has to be on post for the next 24 hours... from 9am on Sunday to 9 am on Monday. so not only have i been stuck in the house for the past 3 days with 2 kids, now i have to do it without my other half... so needless to say, i am a little bit overwhelmed! oh, and for those of you who don't know, our apartment is a whooping 840 sq ft... so we have "lots" of space to move around and keep busy!
to help the girls stay busy, chris got out a little blow up boat that has balls in it... they didn't really like it. chloe played in it more than ireland... but at least we tired. i think Ireland has watched more tv in the past few days than she has in her whole life!
last night i gave the girls a really long bath and they loved that! so that was wonderful! they play so great together in the bath!
other than that, we have just been keeping busy reading books, playing play-doh, coloring, reading the leap pad. hopefully this is the last of the freezing rain and we will get kids out in the next few days!
chris did give ireland some black olives for dinner last night. she has had them before, but never whloe black olives. so this was the first time she got to put them on her fingers... and she thought that was just the coolest thing! it was pretty funny to watch! she gets her love of olives from chris... not me YUCK!!!!
well, i guess we should count our blessings in the fact that we still have power and are safe... there are many people that aren't in the same situation right now... so please be praying for us and i will keep you updated!

fun week of nothing!

well, this past week has come and gone and nothing too exciting has happened (no more lotion problems).

Chris got to go to the park with us earlier this week. Ireland loves to go to the park. but for some reason she has developed a new fear of the slide. she doesn't want to go down by herself anymore. she is more than happy to go down on your lap, but not by herself. who knows why... just being a silly little kid i guess. :o)

The other day when Ireland woke up from her nap she didn't make any noise like she usually does so we know she is awake...instead she just got up and started to play in mommy and daddy's room... she didn't sleep the normal amount of time she usually does, so i wasn't listening for her. then Chris and I heard a funny noise that sounded like someone pulling out a whole roll of tape... and that is exactly what it was. Ireland had found some scotch tape and had pulled the whole roll out and made a little tape ball... she was having lots of fun! she had also found some of my headbands on my sidetable and put those on as well... needless to say, when we walked into the room we had lots of laughs! she never lets us get too bored! :)

then later that day she decided that the headbands were a crown and she was a princess... and Chris hepled make her crown a little better by putting bagclips all over it... she LOVED it! she thought it was the coolest thing under the sun! she got sad when mommy made her take them out at bed time... what a nut!

and all the while, Chloe is just being Chloe! not doing too much besides sleeping, eating, smiling, and wanting to get into the kitchen... you see, we have the kitchen blocked off so she can't get in there (i don't know why, just don't think the kitchen floor is a place i really want her to crawl around). well, in the last week she has found a new interest in the kitchen. it is pretty funny to watch her try to get past our little "wall" of toys to keep her put!

Chloe has learned a few new things... yet to be captured in pictures... she has learned to wave, sign all-done, show "so big", and she is really good at clapping! it is lots of fun to watch her learn new things!

well, that is our week in a nutshell... hope you all enjoy the stories! miss you all!!!

it's a good thing she's cute

ok, let me set the scene...

It was a nice quiet evening in Lawton, Oklahoma... not too much going on. Chloe was already in bed. Chris and I were watching tv. Ireland was going between playing with her kitchen and reading books. sounds nice right? nothing out of the ordinary. same ol' stuff we do every night. well, one thing was different tonight... Chris decided that he needed to watch a real awesome show about the biggest snake in the whole wide world... so needless to say i wasn't really watching tv. i was really reading a book and not looking up from it at all in fear of seeing the biggest snake in the whole wide world. finally chris took pitty on my pathetic phobea and changed the channel.... it was at this time we both happen to look up and see what exactly Ireland was doing... mind you, about 2 minutes had passed where we weren't really paying real close attention to her... we knew she was in the room, but didn't really know what she was doing. It was then we saw our precious little girl sitting on the floor in front of us.... directly in front of us... "putting some lotion on". now just picture this... Ireland (a 2 year old) had found her daddy's tattoo lotion and thought she needed a little bit before she went to bed. and when i say a little bit i mean the whole bottle... and not only was she covered in lotion from head to toe... she did it all RIGHT in front of us!!!! so needless to say, we got some pretty good pictures... here they are for you to enjoy! God love her!!!!

first time user!

hi everyone! so here is my go at trying to keep everyone updated on what is going on in our wonderful lives! so i am sure that most of you know that we finally have chris home with us and we are currently living in Lawton Oklahoma... lovely place, let me tell you what!

but we are all getting use to it here and loving being together as one big happy family!

chloe is now 9 months old and growing like a weed! she is crawling like a pro and about ready to start walking real soon. she LOVES to eat... i think she would eat all day if i let her! but besides eating and playing there isn't much more... she is a really good baby!

Ireland is 2 years old now and potty training... and thus far, it is the hardest thing i have had to deal with... but she is really doing great with it! i think in a few more weeks she should be good to go! ireland is such a smart little girl! she has a vocab that could put a 4 year old to shame (and i'm not just bragging... it's the truth!). she is learning to push our buttons, but is still a real good kid... let me just say there is never a dull moment when she is awake!

we just got home from spending christmas in Colorado. it was awesome! we got lots of snow while we were there... more snow than i have ever seen in longmont... but it was soooooo fun! ireland loved the snow... her favorite thing to do was eat it. chloe never got to go play in the snow but she did like to watch everyone else!

My sister and Matt and Camdyn got to come too, so it was the whole family together for Christmas! couldn't have asked for anything better! i think that Nana and Papaw kinda liked it too!

now we are back home and back in the swing of things. chris had to go back to work and me and the girls are back to playing!

i will try my best to keep this updated a few times a week... as long as there is free time somewhere in my day!