Wedding Pictures, Take 2

Here is a better look at the wedding pictures!

Andrew

I just wanted to post a few pictures of Andrew. We have been having so much fun with him! Tonight, when Wilson got home, he and Andrew played "chase" around the house for I think about 30 minutes!! Wilson finally had to just stop, much to Andrew's disappointment, because he thought Andrew was getting too out of breath! They are so fun to watch!

Andrew loves balls, and he loved learning to play basketball at Sara Beth's house. We've recently gotten a "Bathketball" for the bathtub which he loves too. This mama thinks basketball might be a good sport to promote... not quite as rough as football. :)

These 2 pictures are from when we went to Meridian last week for cousin Elizabeth's b-day party. We were a little early and had fun playing in the park. Andrew was full of energy... if you could see the pictures most would be blurry from him constantly moving! I love how he's sticking his tongue out in the picture with Wilson... that's something he's doing a lot of these days. Not that he's sticking it out at anybody, he's just sticking it out!

Here I am trying to hold him still for a quick picture. Wilson snapped it just in time!

This picture was taken at May-May and Buddy's house in a rocking chair that me and my sisters sat in when we were little. He likes to sit in it to watch Baby Praise, and yes, he's quite the thumb sucker.

Mm-mm-mm, Andrew discovered Icees on the way to Meridian last week, and he is definitely a fan! I bought it for myself when we stopped on the way (thanks for the reminder of how good they are, Kristi!), but as soon as Andrew saw it he wanted to try. So I let him have a sip from the straw and before I knew it he had both hands on it! It made me laugh how he knew just how to drink it, even down to pulling the straw out and sipping the icee from the end of it! It sure kept him entertained for the last part of our trip.

On another note, baby brother, otherwise known as "Bubba" in our house, will be here before we know it... just about 5-6 weeks left, at most!

Babies, Engagements,Birthdays

We've had lots of exciting things happen in our friends' and family members' lives lately! It's been so busy that I haven't done a good job of sharing about these things on our blog. So, here's all the news...

My sister Elizabeth and Bryan got married - see the post below.

My sweet friend Cathy Howarth and her husband Will welcomed their big baby girl on February 21st (8 lbs 15 oz!)... I haven't met little Avery Carter in person but in pictures, she is precious. Here are Mary Austin, me, Cathy, and Kristi at a shower for her in Cleveland.


Wilson's brother, Eric, and his wife, Cara, had their baby girl, Kaylon Grace, on February 26th. We met her last week and I even got to give her a bottle! :) What a sweet baby! She has lots of dark hair and beautiful coloring.

So, my next fun news is that my dear friend and college roommate, Kathryn McCaskill, is engaged! YEA!!! We are so excited and just feel like she and Charlie are perfect for each other. They'll be married in November, and I can hardly wait for this exciting occasion. (Kathryn, I hope you don't mind the picture I'm posting!)


Andrew's cousin, Elizabeth, turned 2 on February 28th, and we went to her fun party at the Carousel in Meridian. She's a sweetie, and we had lots of fun seeing her and everyone else at the party. Here is a picture of Elizabeth and her momma, Tory. Tory and Michael are having their 3rd little girl in May... the Shirley family is growing!! Three Shirley babies being born this spring... so far Andrew and his "little brother" are the only boys in this new generation!


Another picture from the party... "Ganny", Me, Andrew, and Uncle Greg. Andrew had quite the b-day dinner... cheetos, cupcake, and ice cream! There was other great food at the party (thanks, Tory), but Andrew was only interested in the items listed above - if you click on the picture and look up close, you can see his orange hands and face from the cheetos. :) Lovely.

Andrew's friend Sara Beth turned 2 on February 28th also! Happy Birthday, Sara Beth! I found a couple of pictures of Sara Beth and Andrew together that I just couldn't resist posting. :) In the first picture, Andrew is about 3 weeks old and I think Sara Beth is about 7 months. The second picture was taken almost a year ago at the zoo. I can hardly believe that these 2 are both about to be a big brother/sister!

Elizabeth and Bryan's wedding!

I finally have some pictures of the wedding to share!! Elizabeth and Bryan were married last Saturday in a beautiful wedding at my parents' home. It was a wonderful day! The ceremony was very sweet, and the happy couple was surrounded by close friends and family. It was amazing to me how being at home provided such a warm, relaxed atmosphere to the day... everyone had a great time!

I may need to edit this post later... I'm not sure how these pictures are going to turn out. I took them off of my mom's snapfish album because in the midst of all that was going on my camera never made it out of the bag! I hate that, but I'm so glad Rebecca had her camera out... she snapped literally hundreds of pictures! And had a great time doing it!

So, here are some glimpses of the day...



This picture was actually taken on Friday night. Bryan's parents took both families out to a wonderful dinner. Here is our family plus the boys (except for Andrew).

A sister picture before the wedding. Elizabeth looked gorgeous!! A beautiful bride!!



Mom and Elizabeth after the ceremony. Isn't this a cute picture of them both?! I also forgot to mention how wonderful the food was ... we all enjoyed eating and visiting after the wedding ceremony.
The sweet, happy couple.... Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Wardlaw.


Elizabeth and Bryan before leaving after the end of their 'perfect' day!
Congratulations! We are so excited and so happy to welcome Bryan to our family!

Andrew and his red balloon

Andrew had a special treat today. His May-May and Buddy picked him up from Mother's Morning Out and took him to Chick-fil-A for lunch. What fun! A red balloon was given to him at Chick-fil-A, and it has been with him all day long!! He came in from lunch and walked around the house holding his balloon while he talked and played. When it was naptime, I tried to convince Andrew that his red balloon would be OK tied to his chair or floating in his room.... We tried several places but none worked. Andrew was only happy holding the balloon. So, he napped with his red balloon for 2 hours! See the picture below...



When we awoke, the red balloon accompanied us to May-May and Buddy's where we ate a family Valentines dinner, and it was played with throughout the night. Even though there was a cute frog balloon waiting for Andrew, he was for some reason attached to this plain red balloon. Now, we are back home, and yes, the red balloon is, too! It's always amazing to me how the simple things are the most fun to these little ones.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Our Boy

I thought I'd post a few pictures and tell you what Andrew has been up to lately. He's 16 1/2 months and acting more and more like a little boy. Now... he's definitley still my baby, but it's amazing to see how quickly he's learning and growing.

One of Andrew's newest accomplishments is learning to climb. He started this a couple of weeks ago. This skill is lots of fun for Andrew, but now quite so much fun for me, as I never know what he will try to climb next - and as you can imagine, this makes me very nervous! I heard a noise in the kitchen a couple of days ago and looked in to find what you see in the picture above. Andrew had pushed his chair to the cabinet, climbed onto it, and was pushing the button to open the microwave door. The noise I heard was him repeatedly opening the door, then closing it, opening and closing... I guess he knew how to do it from watching Wilson and me. He was pretty proud of himself for this! And aside from being scared to think of what he could have gotten into, I was thinking about what a smart boy he is.


Andrew loves his chair that Ganny and Papaw gave him for Christmas! It is so cute how he knows it's "his chair" and we love seeing him sit in it while he eats his snack or while he watches "Baby Praise."

Another picture of Andrew climbing...He has no trouble climbing into the rocking chair in the new room that we are working on for him. The nursery is going to stay the same for the new baby, and Andrew is moving into a semi- big boy room. I say "semi" because we've decided to keep him in a crib for now rather than try the transition to the toddler bed. I don't think Andrew is quite ready for that change just yet - and I'm not either! But his new room will definitely have more of a little boy look that he can stay in for several years... red furniture, primary colors, cars and trucks... It's coming along well and I'll post some pictures of it soon.


Another of Andrew's new skills this month - eating with a spoon! He's really very good at it, too. He loves applesauce, yogurt, pudding, and oatmeal; and he loves feeding himself with his spoon!

Let it Snow video!

Andrew's First Snow

Andrew loved his first snow! We awoke Saturday morning to a beautiful sight - snow falling!! We watched thru the window as we ate b'fast and then layered up in our warm clothes to enjoy it for awhile. We wanted Andrew to experience what a little snow was like and he loved every minute of it. After tromping around in the backyard, sliding in the snow, putting hands in the snow (thus, needing to change mittens), chasing the ball around, and a very short wagon ride, we finally convinced Andrew to come in so we could warm our noses! It was a great time. But like most Mississippi snows, it was gone by mid-morning. We were glad we had our few minutes of fun while it lasted.

The many faces of Andrew...

Andrew, now 16 months, is tons of fun... learning new things daily! He's really begun imitating sounds and making new words - juice, Laura (he doesn't know he's saying my name!), Daisy, dog, all gone...there are several others. His favorite word for the past couple of weeks has been "uh-oh".

Wilson and Andrew play a fun game of making faces at each other. Andrew imitates the face that Wilson makes, and I must say he does a pretty good job of it!

This morning they had a good time with this funny faces game and we took a few pictures...

Equinox for sale.

We are selling our Chevrolet Equinox. It is a 2006. Only has 23,500 miles. If you know of anyone interested please let us know. It is a great car - we are the only owners. We had to get a bigger ride to prepare for baby #2.

Car has: Air Conditioning, ABS Brakes, Power Steering, Gray Cloth Seats, Air Bag(s), AM/FM CD System, Power Windows, Power Locks, Power Mirrors, Cruise Control, Rear Defroster, Rear Wiper, Roof Rack.

Email us for more questions: wilsonashirley@gmail.com

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Merry Christmas from our family!
Our prayer is that we'll all remember the true reason we celebrate Christmas - Jesus' birthday.

Santa Came Early...

Andrew got his big Christmas present today, and boy, was he excited!! We thought a swing set would be the perfect gift for Andrew. He loves to swing and slide, and most of all, he loves being outside. We're looking forward to many fun times playing on it in the years to come. Come on over, friends and family, to play anytime!

p.s. Santa had a helper with this gift.... great job on building it Wilson! :)

Yummy!

I love to bake...especially at Christmas!! I am sure that this is because of all the time I spent in the kitchen with mom growing up. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is baking and decorating Christmas cookies. Mom had such a great collection of cookie cutters and always had fun little sprinkles and such to decorate with. Well, I've started the tradition at our house. Wilson has been sweet to join me the last few years, but this year it was fun to make cookies with Andrew, too! We took a few pictures to remember our day.

Look at him! He really seems so intent on his decorating, doesn't he?!! He loved holding the "paintbrush" (actually bought in the baking section) and moving it in the icing.

So, once he finished decorating the Christmas tree. I asked him if he'd like to decorate a star next. I placed the star on his tray while I added a little yellow food coloring to the icing and when I look back, this is what I found! No more decorating for Andrew... I think he thought that cookie was pretty good all by itself!

Yummy! A boy after his mom's own heart - a sweet lover!

Baby Praise

I have been wanting to share about one of Andrew's (and my) favorite things! The "Praise Baby Collection" cds and dvds are precious!! At our house, we call them Baby Praise, and whenever we ask Andrew if he wants to watch Baby Praise he gets so excited and immediately goes to the TV.

Now, let me say, I am not a big fan of putting movies in for Andrew. In fact I really try not to show them much... but Baby Praise is different. The dvds are so soothing and calming to him, and I truly believe that they are good for his mind and spirit. The praise songs are beautifully sung - Wilson and I even enjoy listening to them. I find myself singing them throughout the day!

The dvds shows children (of various ages, cultures, nationalities, abilities) playing with one another or discovering something new on their own, it shows animals of all kinds, and even presents some educational material such as ABC's and 123's - and all of this set to uplifting, praise music. You can also buy cd's of the music.

The Bible study that I've been attending on Philippians focused on verse 4:8 recently. "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, ... - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." How great to feel that the Praise Baby Collection is providing wholesome, nurturing material for Andrew to listen to and watch.

Andrew first began watching the Baby Praise movies in his carseat on his first long road trip when he was about 5-6 months old. He has enjoyed them ever since, and I think between me and my mom, we own them all! Our latest one to love is the Christmas one. It is so sweet. One of my favorite things about it is how is tells the Christmas story in simple, understandable terms... Andrew stops to listen to the story each time he hears it.

Please check out the website: www.praisebaby.com
The cd's and dvd's would be great gifts for your little ones or for friends' babies. We've bought ours at Lifeway. I just wanted to share what a blessing these have been to us - I hope you'll enjoy them too.

New York, New York

New York! What a fun week we had together celebrating Mom's birthday!! It was rainy the first 2 days of our trip - so we had to be a little flexible with our plans, but we still had a great time.

We went to the American Museum of Natural History - a great museum with TONS to see. I really think you could spend 2 whole days there (or maybe more)! We visited some of the animal, Native American, and dinosaur exhibits - all of which were fantastic! We rode the double decker tour buses all around the city. Andrew and I stayed below where it was warm and dry, but everyone else braved the cold, wet, rainy weather and sat up top to take in the good views of New York. The bus was a great way to get an overall view of the city and learn some neat facts (like where some "stars" live) that we wouldn't normally have heard. We walked thru Little Italy, Chinatown, and Soho. We walked thru Battery Park and saw the Statue of Liberty. We saw the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular - it was wonderful! We went to the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center) then came down to the bottom and ate lunch while we watched ice skaters on the rink right outside. We also saw a Cirque du Soleil show, Wintuk, which is at Madison Square Gardens right now. If you have ever seen one of these shows, you know how fun they are to see - talented, talented people!! And we ate at some amazing restaurants - needless to say, I still feel full from all I ate!

Whew! We did alot!!! And Andrew did it all with us. I'll take a minute to brag on him. He was the sweetest baby the whole trip. He acted wonderfully on the plane, adjusted great to a new schedule (or lack of one), sat in his stroller as we trekked the city without ever crying or wanting to get out, napped in the stroller, ate with us in the restaurants, sat quietly thru the shows (he actually loved the Rockettes and clapped and waved thru the first few songs!)... I mean for a toddler boy who loves to walk and is so curious about life around him we couldn't have asked for more!! We were so proud! And he made lots of friends for us along the way! So to all of you who may be nervous about traveling with a babe, here's to say that it is not bad at all! In fact, I can't imagine the trip without him!!

Between me, Liz, and Mom, we took lots of pictures, and some of theirs are better than the ones posted below. I just picked out a few to show some of what we did. Maybe I'll borrow some of theirs to post later!

Taking a break from the rainy weather in a cute little cafe in Little Italy. I wish I could remember the name of it... In the background of the picture, you can see framed photos on the wall. They are of famous people with the owner of the restaurant. We had found a popular spot obviously!! It was a cute little cafe and we enjoyed their coffee and canolis. Andrew made friends with the owner who showed us a couple of movie posters that he was in....none that we recognized! It was a fun little find.

Eating in Carmines! Yum, yum - our lunch was amazing and we followed it with this fabulous ice cream dessert. Can we go back, please??

In Times Square!!

Andrew and Wilson riding on the ferris wheel inside the Toys-R-Us in Times Square. Andrew loved it (even though we had ride in a Barbie car!)! All of the seats were cars from cartoons or toys, I was hoping we'd get to ride in the Little People Fire Truck, but when it was our turn to get on, the Barbie Car was open. Oh well, at least Andrew didn't realize it! It was such a fun thing to do and the store itself is really neat.

We were riding the subway and Andrew made friends (of course) with some ladies sitting beside us. They let Andrew wear their Statue of Liberty "crown". He was not to thrilled, but I had to take a picture anyway. Can you see how bundled up he is underneath the crown? And the clear thing on top of the stroller was the rain guard that came with the stroller. It has sat in the basket below the stroller seat for almost a year, without a thought being put into how handy it could be. Boy, were we glad to have it! It was a life-saver!! With the rain guard over the stroller, we were able to just keep right on going regardless of the cold, rainy weather!

A memorable trip indeed!!