Wesley has gained forward motion!

Whatever shall I do? Gone are the days when I leave him sitting in the living room or on my bed, we now have a scooter in the house and nothing is safe! I guess it is time to baby proof... again!

A day at the fair.

We spent our Saturday at the AGAPE baby and family fair. It was so much fun!

Fun at the beach!

We had a great time at the beach this past week. We really missed Jon since he had to stay home and work, but it was fun to spend time with the rest of my family. My Mom and Dad rented a beach house on St. George Island Florida. We had a full house! My parents, my Grandparents, My sister, her husband and 2 kids and me and my two kids all gathered together for a wonderful week at the beach.
The first 2 days were quite eventful as Tropical storm Claudette clobbered the island and kept us holed up inside.



Ella loved swimming in the waves.





And gathering sea shells


Both kids loved swimming in the private pool.




Building sandcastles is fun!




Playing games!


Napping on the beach


Playing at the playground


Flying kites!


Watching dolphins from our deck!


Wesley and "Pop" his Great-Grandfather

The winners have been chosen!

Check out my photo blog to see who the sweepstakes winner are!
http://photographybyshannondotcom.blogspot.com

A movie for Kerri

Ella has been wanting to make a dinosaur movie for her Aunt Kerri who is studying film in New Zealand. Today I finally got around to helping her. Ella picked the characters and told me what was going to happen. She was very excited to make this film. She is the voice of the "bonkasaurus" and the t-rex. I was cast by our little filmmaker as the triceratops and the duck. She also picked the "scary music" from my files for the background. I think she has a future in Hollywood, what do you think?


Also, we love you Kerri!
Movie!

End of Summer Sweepstakes from Photography by Shannon.com!

Go to Photography By Shannon.com's new blog and enter to win a free session and 5 images on CD!
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Thanks!

Pillows, swimming , pottery and RIP Stormycat

I was able to borrow my moms sewing machine for a day so I could work on the pillows for my dining room. I got it all for under $26! Here are the (mostly) finished pillows.


Also this week, Ella had swimming lessons with the wonderful Leah. Leah was so very patient and kind to Ella even when she was crying during the lesson. I will definitely be taking her back next summer!

Kicking practice


Marching practice for treading water


And swimming with Leah's help


Wes came along to watch.


A couple of weeks ago when my sister was here we took the girls to Pottery By You and they painted some little deer and us big girls painted a trivet for our mommy. We got to pick them up this week and Ella was very proud of her creation. Mom liked her trivet too, so it was good all around.



Lastly, on Monday we had to put our beloved Stormy down. She was almost 15 years old and recently had a stroke so she couldn't use her back legs very well. She also had kidney failure and heart problems. Mom decided to let her live out her life until the pain overcame the pleasure. Over the past weekend Stormy finally lost all ability to use her back legs and was unable to move, eat or go to the bathroom so we all decided that it would be best to put her to rest. We will all miss our kitty, but Ella will especially miss her Stormy-cat. The only silver lining was that it gave us a nice opportunity to explain about death and heaven etc. with Ella. RIP Stormy!