Happy 4th Birthday Kathlena!

Hard to believe that our little Kathlena is already 4yrs old. All week we have been working with her to hold up 4 fingers and say "I am 4" when someone asks her how old she is. It is also hard to believe she has only been with us for almost a year now. This 4th birthday being our first together. We missed it last year by 20 days, although we were sad then it has been a sweet first celebration as we are finishing our first year together. We had so much fun going to Party city to pick out her birthday theme--1st Birthday Girl with pink butterflies in patchwork.

A funny story--when we were checking out at the store the clerk asked whose birthday it was to which I replied, "Kathlena" while pointing to her. The clerk then proceeded to ask her how old she was and Kathlena responded with "4" while holding her little fingers up. The clerk continues to check out our party favors, cups, napkins etc. that all state "1st Birthday Girl". At one point I think that she is going to make mention of this, but apparently decides not to. I would have gladly explained as I am always willing to share our story of adoption.

Kathlena's grandparents are also coming this weekend for her party on Saturday. Her Uncle Todd also. She received birthday cards from her great Aunt Susie and great Uncle Nolan as well as her great grandmother--Mema. Here are some pictures of her opening them

Card from Mema


Card from the Mackey's
*don't forget to pause the music in the sidebar when listening to videos

A window into the womb

Today we were so very excited to hear Baby Shiflet's heartbeat for the very first time. He/she is now 12 weeks along...almost the size of an orange now. All six of us were present and it was so fun to see the faces of all of our children when that sweet sound resonated across the Doppler. For Daddy and Mommy it is much encouragement that things are progressing normally and gives us our first sounds of life to cherish. We are all becoming very excited and anxious to meet this little gift.
Andrew asks me almost everyday if the baby is big enough for him to feel it kick yet. He cannot wait for this to happen and I too am excited with him. I asked him if the baby was a boy what name he would give the baby...without hesitation "Larry". After Larry the cucumber from Veggie Tales of course. I then asked him what name he would give the baby if it were a girl...he thought for a moment then replied with a shrug "That would be Kathlena's business" Such a thoughtful boy and clever too! Well, thankfully all can rest assured that Daddy and Mommy will have the final say on names and I am thinking that Larry probably isn't going to make the cut, but we appreciate Andrew's thoughts.

Below is a recording Emily made of Baby Shiflet's very strong heartbeat. Coming in at 160-170 beats/min. Kathlena was quite fascinated with the Doppler machine and once that heartbeat came across the speaker she jumped up and went straight for the speaker to get a closer listen followed by all her other siblings. We were all smiles. Thank you my sweet Emily for recording this precious moment in Shiflet history for us to cherish.

You can turn the music off in the sidebar so you can hear the audio. It is a short clip, but such a sweet sound.

Graduation Day

Well graduation day from trikes and Like-a Bike's that is! Andrew rode a bicycle for the first time...he made it look so easy. For him it was (and I think largely it was) because he learned to balance a bike on what is called a Like-a-Bike. Thank you again Paw-Paw and Grandmommie-it really worked. Andrew never used training wheels, he just learned to balance by using the like a bike which is a small bike with no pedals. He has been zipping around on this since last summer...even with his patch on he could navigate it with great ease. He had been asking to try and ride a "real" bicycle so we pulled out the bike we had saved for him and amazingly he just took off on it without any help. Watching him make turns and zip by sure doesn't look like someone who just learned to ride a few minutes before. Here is the video we shot of him below.


Now Kathlena has graduated to the Like a bike. She looks just like Andrew did when he first began, so I am sure she will be zipping around too in no time. This bike was an investment that really paid off as balance is one of the hardest parts of riding the bike and this bike helps kids achieve confidence in riding quickly so they can focus on maneuvering the bike. Here is a little clip of Kathlena taking her maiden voyage on the Like a Bike.

First Adjustment

Our first adjustments with the Chiropractor went pretty well. Andrew is liking them. He really likes the part where he gets to play with the toys in the waiting room, but he also did very well for Dr. Ky. Andrew actually received two adjustments today. He went early with Daddy for x-rays and was also adjusted. No surprises from the x-rays so that was good.
All of us went back a few hours later for our adjustments. Kathlena was very curious and watched closely as Dr. Ky adjusted E and J first then her. She liked it...especially the Cheeto crunch. Kathlena also showed some severe C1 and C2 misalignment's...not surprising as a result of her head tilt. We are hoping this will help her as well for her nystagmus and to strengthen her neck. She was really excited about her first time to go to the "fire cracker" this is what she calls the Chiropractor.
After their first adjustments I was talking to Dr. Ky and the kids went back over to the play area. I catch Andrew out of the corner of my eye pushing on something on the floor...almost as if administering CPR. I casually walk closer to see Kathlena on the floor with her arms crossed and Andrew pushing on her chest giving her an "adjustment". While I suppose this is the Chiropractic equivalent to playing doctor. I quickly suggested to both of them that we leave the adjusting to Dr. Ky.
I must say from my own adjustment that I have felt really good. Oddly, my nausea is gone. Hmm...I originally thought it to be unrelated except that it happened after my first adjustment too. It lasted for about 2 days then the nausea was back. Thankfully, I was in the next day and now it is gone again. I go back Mon. so we'll see if it holds.
I couldn't let the day go unnoticed. It has been 10 months today since our precious Andrew and Kathlena officially became Shiflets. It seems a lifetime ago since then and yet hard to believe not even a year yet.

Rodeo Reflections

Yes, Emily went with us which is why we have all of these great pictures. I snapped this one early to prove it.

Kathlena overlooking the Houston skyline

You cannot live in Houston for long before you must go to the Houston Livestock and Rodeo. I remember as a kid growing up in a rural community that was big into 4H and FFA an hearing about the Houston Rodeo each year. I went for the first time myself only a few years ago and loved it. It reminded me (only much bigger) of the days when I was a kid growing up in New Braunfels, TX an going to the Comal County Fair. The fair was something I always looked forward to going to every year.
Here a some pics from our night at the Rodeo.



Emily did a great job of capturing some difficult pictures from our seats. Fast action!!

Andrew loved his first rodeo. His favorite part was the ice cream, calf roping and the bull riding. He also liked the sheep riding that the little kids did and wished he could have rode also! This was so funny. They had sheep for the kids 4-6 (pre-selected) to ride the sheep like the bull riders. Trying to hang on for the full 7secs. It was quite hilarious. Andrew with his blood hound nose immediately picked up on the "smells" of the rodeo asking with his wrinkled up nose "what is that smell?"



Andrew and Kathlena sharing popcorn.




I wanna be a cowboy!!

The lights were turned low for the Alan Jackson concert and Kathlena looked ready for "night, night"

Andrew loved the fireworks at the end. But he said it was
too loud though.

The long ride home. We took the bus so once the concert was over us and everyone else headed for the shuttles. The wait wasn't too long and we found a way to have fun anyway.


Kathlena loved the popcorn, ice cream, cotton candy and watching the cowboys ride. She also liked the music...a country girl. Emily has been coaching her on some of her favorite country music like Alan Jackson and Randy Travis.
Emily loves it all, but especially the calf roping and bull riding. J.Michael wanted to do the sheep riding too we all got a good laugh out of this event. He also liked the bull riding and calf scramble. Daddy's favorites are always the bull riding and the calf scramble, but he too had to add the sheep riding or "Mutton Busting" to his favorites.
Mom, well her favorite was watching her kids enjoy the rodeo so much. I also exercised my "early pregnancy cravings" trump card and had some great rodeo food. Big pretzel with mustard, cotton candy and a few bites of ice cream from the kids. So sweet as they were willing to share with their little sister/brother in uterine. It was a great family night.

Andrew loses his first front tooth

Andrew has been losing teeth like crazy, but this is the first one on top! Oh!!! how much it changes the little boy look to a big boy when those front teeth start to come in. I love that toothless smile though. The first thing he tried to do was whistle and he discovered that he could feel air blow through with his teeth closed and that whistling is a bit more difficult. He thought it was so funny.

Andrew was suppose to be going to sleep, but apparently he was busy wiggling his tooth to which he met success in pulling it out. He then runs out to show us his prize. It was too cute to see him so excited in having pulled it all by himself and such a big tooth.

I have to admit we knew this tooth was not going to last to long as he must have fallen on his mouth or something when he was younger. The dentist told us that the root was dead and that the tooth could fall out at any time. We are not sure when or how this happened as Andrew doesn't have a real concrete memory of it. Dentist thinks his permanent tooth is in good shape though and wasn't concerned he would have a problem there. PTL!

I miss that little boy smile already...it went by way to fast (1yr). I love the toothless time too though and it will go even faster.

Merry 1st Christmas

Our family portrait (this was the best of over a hundred
hillarious shots...shiflet portraits are always so much fun to get!)

Emily and J.Michael so grown up!

Bubbie and Kathlena

Andrew and Bubbie

Is this not the cutest picture? I know I am
a little bias.

Our first Christmas was full of the wonder of seeing it for the first time through Andrew and Kathlena's eyes. We read through the story of Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus in Luke 2 each night the week before Christmas. While the kids didn't wake us tooo early they were quite eager to find out what was in there wrapped presents under the tree. We opened some on Christmas Eve, Eve, then on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas morning before heading on the road for a week of visiting family.

Andrew's favorites were his crane truck and legos. J.Michael's were his erector and lego sets that he built the very next day. Kathlena had fun with some kitchen accessories like her mixer and coffee maker so she can be like Mom. Sweet Emily got more yarn for knitting blankets and a longed for new watch. Mom and Dad received the Clearplay DVD player that we have been wanting for our family movie nights. It works great and love that we can now watch movies without the excessive gore, language, and nudity.

Christmas Day Eve we headed to Hillsboro for Christmas with the Davis's (my parents and brother, a.k.a Nana and Doodad (Dewey) and Uncle Todd). We had so much fun as always visiting until late at night, playing games, and exchanging gifts. We also had fun taking pictures together in the plaid disney p.j.'s my mom got for all of us. Here are a few pictures.

First annual Davis-Shiflet Family Christmas

Plaid P.J. Portrait.

Grandparents and grandkids portrait.

...10 seconds before last picture.

Isn't red a good color for us?

On Friday we headed over to Garland to have Christmas with the Shilet side of the family. The kids of course excited to see their PawPaw and Grandmommie, Uncle Steve and his family and Uncle Paul. Emily and J.Michael immediately persuaded Grandmommie into a game of Monopoly.

Let the buying begin!

J.Michael "money bags" Shiflet was cleaning up this game.

Meanwhile, PawPaw was showing Andrew and Kathlena

how to build with these really cool blocks.

J.Michael and Daddy enjoy playing with one of their new toys.

J.Michael even managed to get me the photographer in to

the fun. I love this picture that smile says it all.

Our 1st Thanksgiving as a family of 6

Heading to Garland for Thanksgiving:


The boys are geared up for the 3 1/2 hr car ride with audios
and DVD's to entertain them.

Kathlena is busy at work with her 1st leap pad.

With Charlie sick he made the trip also. If you look out the
back window you will see our trailer we are pulling to house
the beef we are bringing back in our first delivery.


We made it to Paw-Paw and Grandmommie's at last. It
is worth the drive as Grandmommie is an excellent cook,
making everything from scratch. Below are some pictures of
one of Emily's favorite photography subjects...food. These
are the best mashed potatoes ever!! When we read Cranberry
Thanksgiving and it talks about Grandma cooking "everything
with crisp edges and tender centers" It makes me think of
Grandmommie's cooking.



We break tradition and have chicken...nothing against
turkeys, Shiflet's just prefer chicken. Doesn't that make
your mouth water for some chicken?

The kids table on night 2...leftovers as good as night 1

Paw-Paw and Kathlena "fixin" something. She knows the
right one to go to for "fixin" stuff.

Kathlena's first french braid...we finally have

enough hair!

She wanted 2 braids just like Mimi's.

The braids didn't last long. Can you imagine why?

Kathlena playing toss me as high as you can

with her Uncle Steve. Which is quite high as

Uncle Steve stands at 6'5". Aunt Cecilia

and cousin Hannah watch Kathlena soar

above their heads.

Andrew and his new rrrrrobot. Uncle Steve

is the master at finding the most perfect and

coolest ever little boy gifts. Thank you Uncle

Steve...it hasn't left his sight during the day

nor his arms at night.

THANKSGIVING PART 2:

Our first Thanksgiving as 6 at Dewey and

Nana's

Kathlena and "Dewey" a.k.a Dodad,
but princess Kathlena has renamed him.

Kathlena and Nana

Kathlena and Uncle Todd

The preparations in full swing as Emily and Aunt Susie help

get things ready to serve.

Aunt Susie and Sherri taking on the task of labeling all of

the cups for all 35 guests. Yes, we are a large family-four

generations represented here today.

Mom and I finishing up the giblet gravy...well Mom mainly

I am just visiting slowing down the process really, it is

almost ready though.

The boys table...enough said.

My 3rd cousins Madeline, Millie, Mary Grace, George and

Pete Smith. We have not seen them since they adopted Pete

(from South Korea) so this was an extra special day for us to

see them and meet Pete. It was the first time for them to meet

our newest little ones also.

My cousin Amber (Blake's Mommy) blowing bubbles with

the little ones.

Madeline and Andrew playing Wii bowling.

Madeline was such a sweet heart helping Andrew play!

Thank you! He had so much fun.

Kathlena watching the golfers.

Aunt Susie up at bat...oops wrong sport.

Blake and Pete playing too.

Kathlena and Pete playing in the "clubhouse" notice the

bucket of golf balls. The caddies are resting. hehe

Daddy getting in some target practice...well trying it was

quite windy.

Our budding photographer...imagine that? She had a big

time with her cousin Lucas.

Playing drop the cup from my head.

Lucas's glasses fit just right