Merry Christmas from the Shufords

Merry Christmas to our friends and family near and far. Usually, you would have received a Christmas card from our family but for some reason I was not as organized as usual this year. My plan is to send out a holiday letter after the start of the new year. I wanted to send those of you with internet access a Christmas greeting before the letter. We pray for peace and good health for all of you during this holiday season and in the upcoming year.

The girls in their Christmas dresses.

In front of the train after a ride at the Jamestown, CA Historic Railroad Station

Enjoying candy canes given to the girls by Santa on the train ride

Recent family photos

It's been a couple months since I've posted so forgive me for the very delayed Halloween costume pictures. The girls, Dennis, and I have been very busy on our weekends but it's been lots of fun family time. I had to post some pictures of the cooking project with my dad. My mom and dad came down to visit on the weekend of Halloween and stayed overnight. My dad decided to cook homemade apple pies with the girls while my mom and I ran errands. The girls loved "helping" their Papa since I never cook pies from scratch. I'm glad that they have a Papa that loves to cook.

The girls love to dress up in hats, dresses, tiaras, whatever!

This is what Haley looked like after cooking with her Papa (Grandpa).

Lauren helped her Papa roll out the pie crust dough.


The girls dressed up as Snow White and Barbie Mariposa for Halloween.

New SpringWidget

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Haley and Lauren helping Uncle Tren roll Dennis's pumpkin to the porch.

Uncle Tren needs two helpers with this huge pumpkin!

The girls decided that the pumpkin needed a bath.

The planting of the broccoli seedlings.

All of the children with their pumpkins.

MMMMM, this is a good sandwich.

The girls went on a field trip with their daycare to a local farm with a pumpkin patch. My mom and brother, Trenton, came down from Sacramento to go on the field trip with them. My mom said that the girls had a great time. It would have been perfect if it hadn't been so windy today. According to mom, everything was well planned for the children. They planted broccoli, took a tour of the bakery (and tasted treats), saw a haunted house, and picked out their very own pumpkins. I was quite surprised by the pumpkin that was chosen for Dennis. His pumpkin was too big to fit in the house! Mom and Tren came home with lots of tasty treats including a strawberry pie. Haley said that she had a great day, but she was afraid of the skeleton in the haunted house.

A Ballerina and A Car Washer

The girls are busy exploring possible careers. Lauren has decided that car washing could be a fun career but it's lots of work and hard to avoid all the suds and water. Haley wants to be a ballerina. She just started classes two weeks ago. Unfortunately, she inherited her mother's poise and grace so I'm not sure if ballet would be a lucrative career. It's fun to watch her though.

She's works hard for the money, so hard for ya honey....

Not sure who's getting the better wash, the car or Lauren?

Strike a pose

Our little ballerina

BIG Mistake!!!!!

The excitement of a new big girl bed

The aftermath of the first trial run

The morning after Lauren's first night sleeping "in" her big girl bed

Against our better judgment, we decided to convert Lauren's crib to a toddler bed. We had a reason for doing so, and that reason is that I'm recovering from a hysterectomy/appendectomy so I can't lift Lauren into her crib. We figured that she would need a bit of time to adjust to the new situation however we never expected the trauma that ensued! Dennis converted her bed on Saturday morning (8/9) so our first trial run with the bed was at nap time that afternoon. We laid Lauren down for her nap at 2:00. She immediately ran to her closed bedroom door and kicked the door and screamed off and on until 3:00. When she wasn't screaming she was playing with her toys and opening her window shutters. She then read books in her bed until approximately 3:30. We got her up at 4:00 so she got a half an hour nap. She usually naps for at least 2 hours. She woke up a "little" on the crabby side. The next trial run was bed time. We did the whole bed time routine then laid her down. Once again, she jumped out of bed and screamed and kicked at the door. This time it was for 30 minutes. When we went to check on her, she was sleeping face down on the floor by the door. Dennis carried her to bed, but the next morning we discovered her asleep on the floor right by the bed. The third trial run was at nap time the next day and it was the last one. This time she kicked her bedroom door so violently that we could have sworn there was a 300 pound Sumo wrestler on the other side of the door. Needless to say, she did not nap on Sunday. Dennis and I caved and converted it back to a crib. I'm happy to say that Lauren is much happier and so are we : ) I'll just help Lauren climb into her crib. Here are some pictures of the whole experience!

Face Painting Maniacs

My mom was here two weeks ago helping me with my recovery from surgery and she saw this picture of the girls on my desktop. She loved it and wanted me to post it on my blog so here it is. This was taken in April at the Asparagus Festival in Stockton. Haley LOVES having her face painted and she always gets a butterfly face painting. The painter convinced us to do a full face painting rather than just on the cheek. Here's the result. Lauren wanted a ladybug.

Fun Random Pictures

Do you remember the joy of boxes?

Our Arabian Princess

I'm a close relative to Pig Pen

I just like this picture of two of my most favorite people

Tub play time! Do you like our lollipops?

Daddy and the girls collecting squash from our garden

Check out this squash!!!!

Haley and Lauren LOVE Haley's new BIG, BIG girl bed!

Lauren's 2nd Birthday

Lauren with her Pooh cake

Lauren, Jasmine, and Micah are being creative

Uncle Tom slept through most of Lauren's party. He was VERY tired!

We couldn't pass up this balloon!

Lauren trying to show two fingers

Erik (our cousin) showing two fingers

Haley is attempting to show two fingers

Daddy showing two fingers

Lauren had two second birthday celebrations. The first was an after dinner cake celebration on her actual birthday (June 14th) with Grandma Lynne and Erik. The second was a big family celebration on the following weekend. Her theme was Winnie the Pooh for the big party. All of her cousins were invited to the house to celebrate and play games. We all had a great time. The kids enjoyed swimming in the pool the most. The little ones loved coloring on the brick wall with chalk.

Hooray for Summer!!!

Play time in our pool

Haley riding her new princess bike

I'm cool as a cucumber

Am I supposed to wear these or just look cute in them?

A play date with the Nelson children. In this picture is my friend Lisa with Erin's children Jackson and Olivia and the Shuford girls. Derek (Olivia's twin) is the only child not in the picture.

I know that it has been a while since I last posted so I'll create several posts to make up for lost time. The girls and I are enjoying our summer together. Haley and Lauren love having me at home and I love being home with them. It is one of the perks of teaching : ) Haley just went to Vacation Bible Retreat last week and had a wonderful time learning bible verses that incorporated the theme for the week: Children of the Light. Haley came home singing new songs and full of excitement. She told me all about the bible stories and showed me all of her arts and crafts every day. Lauren and I joined her for mass every morning and we stayed all day (8 to 11:30) with her for two of the days. Haley is also taking swimming lessons in the afternoon for two weeks. She feels like such a big girl because she gets to do things that sissy is too little to do. Other than that we've been spending lots of time at the library, the park, and our pool. The girls are participating in the summer reading club at the library so every time they read for seven nights they get to choose a goody from the treasure box at the library. Daddy has been busy working but he gets to have fun with us girls on the weekends. Poor daddy!

Haley's 4th Birthday

Haley and Ariel

Isaiah is ready to attack!

Lauren had to get a few hits in too.

CANDY, CANDY, CANDY!!!!

Haley's BIG cousin Alorah got to practice her perfect bat stance!

We celebrated Haley's fourth birthday party last weekend at a place called Gymnastics Unlimited. She invited all of her cousins and two friends. The children had a great time jumping around, during somersaults, and swinging on the rings. Haley had a Barbie Princess cake. After the festivities at the gym, the Williams cousins and cousin Mikayla along with their mommies Aunt Tez and Aunt Nicole, came over to our house to swim and break open Haley's Ariel pinata.

The pinata was a wonderful surprise from one of the ladies that works on Dennis's team at Frito-Lay. She had asked Dennis about Haley's birth date two weeks prior and mentioned that she was making pinatas. Dennis forgot about the conversation and didn't mention it to me. He arrived at work on the Friday before Haley's birthday and was told that he had a pinata waiting for him in his office cubicle. I got home and was pleasantly surprised by a gorgeous handmade pinata. Haley was over the moon because she had been asking for a pinata but we were not going to get one this year because we were going to the gym. Thank goodness Haley's cousins came over after the party to break open Ariel because she was tough to crack open!

Spring is Sprung!!!!

The girls in their Easter dresses

Haley's work of art

Lauren's lovin' this Easter egg tradition

Our Easter bunny prefers the color pink

Lauren and her cousin Lainie had fun with chalk grafitti on Easter Sunday

We had a wonderful time with my parents and the Williams family (my sister Tezra's family) on Easter Sunday. Haley and Lauren think that any activity that involves their cousins is 100 times more fun! They loved finding eggs, riding bikes down the driveway, drawing with chalk on the backyard wall, and eating candy all afternoon with their cousins Alorah, Isaiah, Alaina, and Micah. Of course, after eating candy all afternoon, none of the kids were hungry by the time the ham dinner was ready but that's what holidays are all about. We were all sad to say goodbye to my parents and the Williams family. I'm so looking forward to my summer break so that we can spend more time with family.