Living La Vida Loca

Our Little Darlings

2009-01-20T20:48:00.000-08:00

Every year our girls' daycare provider has a professional photographer take photos of each child enrolled at the daycare center. I always look forward to these photos because the photographer always take such beautiful pictures of the girls. I also love that they take a picture of the girls together. My attempts at taking a decent picture of the two of them together is always a dismal failure.

Merry Christmas from the Shufords

2008-12-23T18:58:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-23T18:42:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-07T21:49:00.001-08:00

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

2008-10-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-19T20:50:00.001-07:00

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!!!!!

2008-08-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-14T15:21:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-07-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-25T14:40:00.001-07:00

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!!!!

2008-03-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

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.

Newest Professional Pictures of the Girls

2008-01-30T20:53:00.000-08:00

My daycare provider has a company come to the daycare every year in January and take professional photos of the girls. I love it because I get yearly photos of the girls that I can hang on the wall and share with family and friends. It also saves me the hassle of going to a studio to get good pics of the girls. So, here are the latest pictures. I love Lauren's expression in the photo with both of the girls. It looks like she is saying, "Why are you touching me?".

My Husband is Awesome!

2008-01-21T16:33:00.001-08:00

Our seven year anniversary was yesterday. Dennis surprised me at work two days early with a beautiful bouquet from a place called Edible Arrangements. This business just opened up in town over the summer and I kept commenting on how cool it was because you can eat your arrangement. He had it delivered to my school and it looked like a bouquet of red roses but it is actually an arrangement of chocolate covered strawberries. He also sent a balloon and teddy bear along with the arrangement. I loved showing off my special delivery and I'm enjoying the strawberries even more! It was a wonderful start to our anniversary weekend.

Sister for Sale!

2008-01-09T21:44:00.000-08:00

I had to share a comment that Haley made tonight. It was one of those comments that I will remember forever. Lauren is hitting the terrible twos already so for the past two nights we've had to endure some screaming fits that could shatter eardrums. Tonight Haley said, "Mommy, I have to tell you something. I don't want a baby sister anymore because she throws fits. I think I want a baby brother." I laughed and told her that if she had a baby brother he'd throw fits too! She didn't like that answer. Gotta love the thinking of a three year old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREVOR MICAH!

2007-12-31T16:13:00.000-08:00

I love this picture of Trevor Micah

A good picture of Micah with his tattoo like Uncle Bub's

Trevor, you are always in our hearts and in our thoughts! Not a day goes by that we don't miss you. I wish that we could be celebrating your birthday with you. We love you very much.

More Christmas Pictures

2007-12-28T12:46:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe another Christmas has already come and gone. Haley keeps saying that Christmas will be here again in another four or five days. We had a wonderful day together. The girls just enjoyed spending time with mom, dad, Grandma Lynne, Uncle Jerry, Eric, Aunt Pat, and Aunt Bert. They also got to visit with purple grandma and papa on Christmas Eve. They got lots of new toys for Christmas so they have been very busy playing with their toys. It's nice to have something to keep them preoccupied for a little bit.

The weekend before Christmas, we went to a shopping center in town and made an unplanned visit to see Santa since the line wasn't very long. Lauren was not a happy camper but Haley jumped right up on Santa's lap. It's amazing the difference a year makes since Haley was afraid of Santa last year. It's just so much fun to see how the girls respond to all the different Christmas customs. It's also a wonderful time of year to reflect on our many blessings. We are so thankful for so many things. God is great!

An AWESOME version of The 12 Days of Christmas!

2007-12-13T20:35:00.000-08:00

My friend Tracy sent this to me in an e mail and I thought it was so AWESOME that I had to put it on the blog, enjoy! Thanks for sending this one my way Tracy : )

Christmas Joy

2007-12-09T20:10:00.000-08:00

Putting ornaments on the tree

Christmas Rocks!

Dennis took a week's vacation the week after Thanksgiving and took advantage of that time to put the Christmas lights on the house, put out our yard decorations, put up our two trees, and decorate the inside of the house. Every day when I would come home from work, I couldn't wait to get home to see what Dennis had put up that day. The true joy was watching the girls' faces light up as the house looked more festive!
The most exciting moment for everyone was putting the ornaments onto the family tree. We have a million ornaments! I have a ton of ornaments from my parents because it was a tradition to get an ornament each year for each of us Hall kids so that we would have ornaments for our Christmas trees when we started families of our own. I love seeing the ornaments from my childhood every year. Dennis also has ornaments from his childhood but not as many. Mine have a tendency to dominate the tree because I also have received countless ornaments every year from students and friends. We're also carrying on the tradition of buying ornaments every year for the girls so we just keep adding to the number every year. The girls have also started receiving ornaments from grandparents and close family friends. Needless to say it's hard to find a spot for every ornament.
The second Christmas tree in our home is Dennis's Star Trek and Pepsico ornaments tree. Dennis started collecting the annual Star Trek ornaments about two years after they started the series. He's very proud of his tree but Haley insists that it is her tree and she has decided that daddy's tree will hold her handmade ornaments from daycare.
The final touch for Christmas decorations was the four nativity sets. Dennis always saves these for me to put out. This year was the first year for Haley to help me put up the nativity sets. I have a big nativity set, a Precious Moments nativity set, a miniature glass nativity set, and a miniature Mexican nativity set. Haley helped me put up all four sets while asking me many questions about who everyone was, what was baby Jesus doing, and why didn't baby Jesus have a birthday cake since it was his birthday? I loved spending that quality time with Haley carrying on a Christmas tradition that I know that she will always cherish. We'll include Lauren in the tradition in two more years.

No cavities in these mouths!

2007-12-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

Lately it has been monkey see, monkey do in our home. Lauren adores her big sister and wants to do everything that she sees Haley doing. Whenever she sees Haley brushing her teeth, she insists on climbing up next to her sister on the stool which Haley does not appreciate one bit since there's not much room on the stool with two of them on it. Lauren's love for brushing her teeth has taken on a life of its own. She now carries her toothbrush around the house and loves, loves, loves toothpaste. I think that she could make a meal out of it. Lauren has also discovered how fun it is to climb up the stool and look at herself in the mirror. She also loves all the cool stuff on the counter that she can get into while she's making faces in the mirror. Dennis and I will often hear Lauren calling for us because she hasn't quite figured out how to get down from the stool. We rescue her several times a day. Ahhh, the joys of toddlerhood! I know, I know, they're nothing compared to the teenage years!

Princesses, Fairies, and Witches, Oh My!

2007-11-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Tinkerbell, Mommy witch, and the Little Mermaid

Haley and Lauren's pumpkins. Of course, Haley had to have a princess pumpkin!

Lauren, Haley, and our Goddaughter, Havana at Bishop's Pumpkin Patch

I found the perfect pumpkin and it's just my size!

Daddy and Lauren the pumpkin head

I had to post some pictures from the month of October since it is my favorite time of year. It seems that Haley is following in my footsteps with her love of Halloween. She had been talking about Halloween for a month before the actual day. The day of Halloween she was so excited when I woke her up. She couldn't wait to go to her daycare for the Halloween party. The girls brought their costumes to daycare so that they could dress up for the party. After I picked them up, they got to put on their costumes once again for the Halloween costume contest at the chiropractor's office, finally they wore the costumes for a third time for trick or treating. Haley was in absolute HEAVEN!!! Lauren on the other hand fussed and complained every time we put her costume on her. As for trick or treating, Haley loved ringing doorbells and saying, "Trick or Treat". Lauren just followed her sissy from door to door and got double the quantity of candy as her sister just because everyone thought she was so cute. Between the two girls we have enough candy to last us until next Halloween!

We also made our annual trek to one of my most favorite places in the whole wide world, Bishop's Pumpkin Farm which is near my old place of residence, Marysville. We brought our friends Rick and Rachel and their daughter, Havana (our Goddaughter). Rick and Rachel fell under the spell of Bishop's and I'm sure they'll be joining us again next year. Just to add one more element of excitement to the month of October, the day before Halloween, I experienced my first earthquake! It wasn't a major quake but just enough for me to feel the ground under me jump and see the clothes in the closet sway! Dennis was in Indiana for business at the time so I was on my own with the girls. I couldn't believe that he missed the earthquake! Well, until next time, I bid you farewell.

Our Father

2007-09-26T21:44:00.001-07:00

Haley and I say the Our Father every night before bed. I hadn't realized that she had memorized the Our Father until this evening when she asked if she could say the Our Father at dinner time as grace before our meal. Her prayer was just too cute not to add to the Shuford family blog.

Haley's First Roller Coaster Ride

2007-09-24T19:06:00.001-07:00

This was Haley's reaction after her first roller coaster ride. She kept saying before the ride that she was a big girl now. After the first big dip in the coaster, she looked at me with huge eyes and said, "I'm not big enough." Scroll down to see more pictures of our Great America trip.

Great America

2007-09-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

Wanna take a ride with me?

Lauren's first amusement park ride

Haley LOVED meeting Dora and Diego

We all went to Great America yesterday for Dennis's company picnic. We had a wonderful time riding all of the kiddie rides. All four of us were able to ride most of the rides. Haley enjoyed the rides most of all. Lauren wasn't quite sure what was going on. Lauren enjoyed running around Great America the most. The highlights of the trip were meeting Dora and Diego and Haley's first roller coaster ride.

Also, for those of you new to blogging, if you want to see any past blog posts just keep scrolling down the page or click on one of the post titles on the left hand side of the blog screen in the blog archive.

A video clip of pictures from our family vacation

2007-09-16T13:17:00.001-07:00

This is a really cool free service that makes a video of your pics for you. For those of you with blogs you'll have to try it out on Animoto. Also, scroll down to the post just below this one for a new post from yesterday.

Daddy's Big Girl Helper and the Mess Maker

2007-09-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

Haley loves to be daddy's big girl helper.
Getting car supplies
Lauren's Devilish Smile!

Labor Day Weekend

I love slow weekends with no plans so that we can spend some quality family bonding time together. I especially love to see Dennis working and playing with his girls. I'm a bit partial but I think that he's the best daddy in the world which of course only makes me love him more. Okay, I can see all of your eyes rolling now.
We had no plans during Labor Day weekend so Dennis took that opportunity to wash the cars. As soon as Dennis pulled out his car and started washing it, Haley was right there asking him if she could be his helper. He got her a sponge and she helped him to wash both of our cars. Of course, I had to run and get the camera to capture the moment on film.
In the meantime, Lauren was busy in the garage getting into anything that she could lay her hands on. I had to stop taking pictures to clean up Lauren's messes. She just looked at me with a great big grin and a devilish look in her eyes. How could I be mad?

Haley and Lauren at the beach

2007-09-01T14:32:00.001-07:00

Lauren had just started walking the week before our trip.