Our Little Darlings

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

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!