Daddy DayCare

I am leaving today to go visit the Atwood family. Trevor, Keva, Micah, and Isaac moved to Murfreesboro in July. Keva and I have now not seen each other in 3 months. Seeing how we have seen each other other at least twice a week for the past 4+ years, this has been a big adjustment for us. To say that I am excited would be a huge understatement.
While I am super excited, I am also a bit nervous. This will be the first time Spence has been single parenting overnight (his longest to date is 8 hours and this will be about 76 hours total). So, please be praying for him and the boys (and nervous mommy 8 hours away). Oh, and feel free to call and check on them or bring them food :)

green acres

We headed out Saturday morning to Green Acres corn maze. Spence and I got a groupon for buy one get one free and the boys were still young enough to get in for free. We weren't really sure how the whole corn maze would go with our boys, but we had fun. We were supposed to find 10 checkpoints and it should only take an hour. After 45 minutes and finding 4 checkpoints, we found an exit and left.

Good luck, fellas!
Zeke and Daddy consulting left or right

For some reason, Benjamin led the way for a little bit...

we are thankful we made it out alive

After the cornmaze, the boys played in a bounce house thing. Then we tackled a tower of haybales with tunnels in it. There was some of those strongman things that you hit with a hammer. The boys were a bit nervous about feeding the goats and then we hit up the hayride

Ben on the move

Strongman Zeke

Strongman Ben

Please don't bite my fingers

It tickles!

"We ride a tractor and wagon with hay"

This is Zeke's new (slightly creepy) smile

Ben loved the "slide like Chick-fil-A"

Zeke refusing to take off his hoodie

(yeah he is that scary kid your mom wouldn't let you play with)

TRACTORS!!!

If we lived in the country this could be 13 years from now

My three boys

Talk about your big wheels

We then headed over to the pumpkin choose area. I really want to go somewhere to pick a pumpkin off a vine. But I gotta say I really liked being able to tell the boys they could choose from any of the pumpkins on a certain row.

Looking for the perfect pumpkin

Ben tried picking up every pumpkin

And this was the best boys in pumpkins picture I could get...

NC State Fair 2011

There is a serious lack of pictures this year. The boys are much harder to keep up with this year :) I love the fair and would go everyday if I could. While at Meredith, I typically went about 4 times each year. Spence tolerates us going. I am thinking the boys will be following in my shoes with my love for the fair. A first that we had this year was that Benjamin went on the ferris wheel with Spence (Zeke wanted no part of it!) Sadly that isn't one of the pictures I got.
I thought it would be fun to give my fair tips:
*Go on a weekday
*Go early in the day
*Pack some snacks for your kids and your own drinks (save the money and buy more food)
*If you have kids, take a stroller
*Things to eat: Al's Fries, Roasted Corn (my fave is from the cart near village of yesteryear, next to the booth with the huge strawberry balloon on top of it), NC State icecream, mini donuts, fried snickers
*Things to do: feed the animals in the petting zoo, visit the animal exhibits, PBS tent, emergency vehicles, in the poultry tent you can hold the baby chicks and ducks, people watch (seriously the crazies come out)

Here are our few pics from this year:

Zeke loved the corn again, next year I am getting him his own!

The boys found these random pumpkins and wanted pictures taken

Ben kept playing these pimpkins like they were drums

Earthly dad vs Heavenly Father

Warning: this post will contain zero pictures.

God has been working on something in my heart recently and I have finally gotten around to sharing it with you. A few weeks ago, Spence spoke at our Young Professionals gathering. (if you want more info on that visit here) He spoke on the Lord's Prayer. Before you hit the snooze button because you have heard so many sermons on this topic, you really should listen to what God laid on Spencer's heart. It was a fresh perspective and was great for me to hear.

What really came out to me though was my thoughts on how I approach God. Spence quoted Richard Foster from Celebration of Discipline, "Of all the spiritual disciplines, prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father". Wow! I can have constant communion with God through prayer. This isn't just your "please give me patience" as you're losing it with your kids or "heal such and such" when you read on Facebook that someone is sick. This is walking so closely with the Lord that prayer is like breathing.

This led me to think that maybe I am coming to God in the way that I tended to go to my dad. When I needed gas money or something fixed, I went straight to my dad because I knew he would come through. This has taught me some great things in just being able to look at God as my provision, but it has also taught me to only go to God when I need something.

God runs to those in need, but that can not be the only time I interact with Him. He is the most high rescuer. But whether he solves that temporary problem or not, wat I need to remember is that He saved me from my ultimate death. He has rescued me from an eternity of hell.

I need to keep this fresh on my mind and heart through out my day. My prayer is that I will keep the gospel very present through out my day. This is also my prayer for you. If you don't have a personal relationship or you don't feel like you want to even have an approach towards God I would love to talk to you more about how you can.

little sister

I did it. I went shopping for baby girl, from now on she will be abbreviated BG not because those are her initials, wait for it, you will get there. I was pretty excited and looking forward to choosing the first outfit I would purchase. I kind of wanted to get her something to come home in. I already am thinking differently because I have no clue what the boys came home in. Pretty sure we just threw them into a sleeper or onesie and headed out. Spence has decided to start calling our savings "daughter fund".
Everyone had told me how fun it was to shop for girls, so as I stood in Carter's crying I was a bit taken by surprise. All week everyone had been asking how I felt about a girl and how excited I was. I am truly excited about this baby girl, but as I shopped I realized that I hadn't had this opportunity with our other daughter. It hit me in the store that the reason I have felt conflicted is because I didn't want to dishonor Rae. (I know this is a bit heavy, but I keep this blog to document my family's life. Not because of my thousands of fans, JK) I have since realized since crying in Carter's, that it is ok to continue to grieve and miss Rae, but at the same time be excited about BG.
So, I am sitting with a few pink items and anticipating more. I am thinking about how to add to our current nursery to make it girly with out losing my adorable fabric that I love (Jen, the designer who made our nursery and Zeke's big boy stuff, is alraedy brainstorming). I am excited to go to Target and get a frilly tutu. I am looking forward to bows and leg warmers. I just wanted to explain why I may not be screaming from the rooftops that we are having a gril is because we feel like we already have one. We just have yet to meet her. Another quick thing, this whole grieving process takes me by surprise still. I totally did not expect this and it made me realize how dependent I really am on Jesus for everything. But that's a whole 'nother post that I got rolling around in my head and heart for another day.
Here's what you want to see:

BG's first outfit: onesie, pink striped pants and hat, and those sweet little ballet slipper socks

U-N-C

Last week on Benjamin's birthday we met up with the Douglas family in Chapel Hill. We did this last year (minus Jason, Leslie, and Max) and decided to add them into our tradition this year. I am so glad we did. We let the boys roam around kicking acorns and just running around like crazy boys. Then we took them to the Old Well, or The Big Water as Leslie (who is pregnant and is mixing all her words up) called it, hehe). We did not allow our boys to drink the water, hey we know what Carolina haters do there. We had lunch at Frankin St Pizza and Pasta followed by dessert at Yogurt Pump. The boys had a blast and well I forgot to take pictures so this is all ya get:

Our boys at the old well

Daddy teaching Ben all the glories of UNC

Baby Girl

On Monday we announced that Shelton baby #4 is a girl! Spence and I are still working out our thoughts. I think we are truly a bit shocked by this. On the way home from the apointment, I asked Spencer what he was thinking. He responded with "first date, first kiss, first boyfriend, prom, wedding... and I just have this feeling of hating someone". My response was "You realize this kid you are hating probably hasn't even been born yet, right?"
So there we are. Currently hating some boy, and getting prepared to drown in some pink. If you follow me on pintrest, you will notice an increase in all things pink, sparkly, and fluffy. I am working through how to keep our nursery but make it a bit girly. Any suggestions are welcome here.
Now onto, our sweet girls pictures:

this is the classic toilet seat pic, that little white dot (if you zoom in it is a cross) shows that if this is a baby boy, he is missing some important parts.

I love this pic. You can see her spine so clearly.

This is one of those creepy face pictures. You can see her eye sockets, nose, and mouth

Zeke and Ben are proud to announce...

they are excited to be having a baby sister.

We took the boys with us to the doctor for a beautiful family moment... enter our crazy kids. Ben flipped as soon as I sat on the table and demanded I get up. Zeke began asking to go home as soon as Dr. Brannon squirted that jelly on my belly. Spence held both boys crying while we found out the big news.
We decided to share our news in a fun way with our parents.

this is what our ride to tell looked like
yes, those are the boys tucked in back there

Ben loved playing with the balloons

this is his "I'm having a sister face"

This is Zeke's "you better not mess with my sister face"

"and if you do, this is what we will do to you!"

Snip, snip, snip

This is the little boy who lives at our house now...


This is what he looked like:

Please notice those lush locks of sweet curls, ok they were baby fine locks, but still. We did it. Spence won. I lost. I really wanted to keep all those cute curls and Spence has been begging for me to get his hair cut so people will stop telling us we have a cute little girl.

So, I did it. I got my friend Abby to give me the info on the guy who does her boys' hair, I said a prayer for Mister Bryon, made the appointment and said a prayer for the unknowing suspect (that would still be Mister Bryon and not Benjamin)...

Mister Bryon had no problem with the freak-picture-taking-almost-in-tears-hormonal-mama

Please notice the adoration on Ben's face. Mister Bryon let him choose his cape (Toy Story), sit on the big chair, gave him a truck to play with and put on Elmo...

I mean who wouldn't adore this guy. I want him to cut my hair I think

My baby becoming such a big boy

So not amused by the paparazzi that had gathered for the momentous occasion

Alright, fine, I'll give you one smile

I love how he watched in the mirror to see what Mister Bryon was doing

Giggled all the way through

Oh, sweet little hairs...

Thank you Mister Bryon!

Side note: while I do hate those doctors who do the whole Dr. First Name, I love the fact that Mister Bryon is called that.

'Nother side note: if you would like Mister Bryon's info, just google him. He is in Morrisville. You can make appointments online (amazingly simple). He set Ben at such ease and even gave suckers and a toy at the end. I had warned him about it being Ben's first time, but there was totally no need because Mister Bryon was such a pro.

The birthday that wouldn't go away

OK, last birthday post! Here is us singing and Ben blowing out his candles.

Rest of party pictures

Here are a few more pictures. A couple decorations and what the youngest kids at the party did during the festivities

Party favors. A friend let me borrow an animal cupcake pan (this one is the hippo)

We decorated balloons as lions and zebras
Side note: Sharpie comes off balloons and onto children's faces and hands

Jace loved Uncle Spencer (not at all bitter about that)

but I think he loved this chair even more

And here is our sweetest, smallest guest (and Bampa) at the beginning of the party

and this is Levi at the end