October and November Happenings

We are still alive here at the Shurden house. I just haven't made time to update our blog in a VERY long time. I don't have time to upload any pictures right now but we have tons of cute ones to show off but I thought I'd update everyone on the kids.

Knox is now 9 months and is crawling everywhere! We only have 2 small steps in our house but he can get up and down those with no problem and loves to "run" away from me and get into no-no places! He totally understands no already. He'll look at me sometimes just to see if I'll say anything. And it's not a cute look, it's a "I know I shouldn't be doing this but I'm testing my mommy out" look. He is eating some table food now which is so much cheaper than baby food! He loves to make funny faces, do the coughing game, drop toys just to see you pick them up, and loves balls! He gives great big hugs, has deep belly laughs that make anybody around him smile. And just today he said his word "ma-ma"!! It may have been a one time thing at this point but it was precious.

Katie is 3 and her big achievement in October was getting potty trained!! She was so ready to learn so that made it tons more easy on me! She loves not having to wear diapers all day and is such a big girl now. I can't believe I have only 1 child in diapers now! I think that going through 3's is much harder than 2's. Katie has learned how to manipulate others, she's very sneaky at being bad, and she has lots of tantrums. I sure hope she's going through a phase and this will not be her permanant personality. At the same time though, she's loads of fun. She's learning alot of new things. She loves to play games, do puzzles, sing songs, and most of all she says some great prayers.

Rosalyn played soccer the month of October and loved, loved it! She was very timid at first but by the last game she was knocking girls over and wanting the ball all to herself. She did great! She is such a competitor. Since soccer is over, my long hallway has become the soccer field. Rosalyn is a very sweet , sensitive, compassionate little girl. Yet she is also very bossy and wants it her way. I guess that's just being the older child. She also just had the opportunity to sing in church with the children's choir and loved it.

Today we're packing and getting ready to go to our families for Thanksgiving. Rosalyn woke up with the pink eye and we've been to the doctor already this morning. Knox has been sick with a cold for over a week and is finally on antibiotics. Nate and I are still struggling with our colds but surely we'll get better soon. Through all the craziness of sickness and everyday life, we're so thankful for everything the Lord has given to us and has blessed us with. We hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.

Nate's Blogs

I know we're really far behind on our blog. We have tons of pictures to post, and so much new news to share with all of you. I'm going to try, really try to update things soon. 

In the meantime, I want to list a couple of links to Nate's blogs. He has been writing on the FPC blog and the YA blog recently. Check them out and often, since I think he's going to be writing on them pretty often. 

Knox rolling

I know... I'm way behind on blogging. Here's just a few pictures from the month so far!
Knox is trying really hard to crawl. He gets around by rolling all over the floor and by crawling backwards. I am not ready for a crawler and for him to get into the girls stuff but it is so fun to watch him learn new things.

While rolling around he ended up under the coffee table.

Monkey pajamas

The girls got some monkey pajamas the other day and I thought they were so cute.

Happy 3rd Birthday Katie!!

Our Katie Noel turned 3 on October 4th! We had a little party for her at our community park. She had a great time. We also got to enjoy Nana and Pops coming on Saturday.

Birthday Streamers!!

Swinging Fun

We went to the park last week and Knox got to get in the swing for the first time! He loved it. He isn't sitting up by himself yet so he's still wabbly but he enjoyed it!

Rosalyn, Nate Smith, and Knox

Holding on tight...

Katie gets to push him! What a big help.

Soccer Time!

We have begun a new phase of life in the Shurden family. Rosalyn is now playing soccer! I hear once you start sports and activities, there's no stopping. So we have practice on Thursdays and games on Monday nights. Rosalyn and Nate were able to get some practice time in while we were on the beach. These are some pictures taken from our balcony. (If you click on the pictures you can see them better.)

This is Rosalyn's first soccer game! It's pretty funny to watch 4 year olds play. She had several good kicks that night. We look forward to the rest of the games!

Surprise Beach Trip!

Nate was suppose to go on a Mission Trip with First Pres on Sept. 13-20 to Bolivia. However, the trip was cancelled the night before he was suppose to leave because of civil uprise in Bolivia. So...we decided to get away as a family for a few days and go to The Beach Club in Gulf Shores. My sister, Ellen, was in town so she went along with us, which was a lot of fun.

This slideshow is of the first afternoon we got there. It was around 5:30 and I thought we would enjoy a nice walk on the beach before supper but before I knew it the girls had jumped in the water and were soaked. As you can tell, they weren't dressed for this but they had the best time! Hurricane Ike hit the week before and there was alot of beach erosion that left little "ponds" that the girls enjoyed playing in.

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Knox first time in the ocean!! He loved it!

I love, love, love these pictures of Knox.

The girls went to the playground one afternoon and had fun playing.

Funny Katie

I was busy cooking supper one evening and Katie decided to get in Knox chair that was in the kitchen. She was pretending to be a baby and Rosalyn would bring her blankets and all sorts of toys to play with. It ended up being a huge mess but they had fun and I got supper cooked.

The dress that Rosalyn has on here was mine when I was a little girl. She loves to wear it almost daily and play in it. And poor Katie doesn't have on any clothes, which is pretty normal too.

Preschool Days

I'm finally back to blogging!! September has been a busy month so I've got lots of pictures to show off but it may take some time. On Sept. 8th I started preschool with the girls. We decided very last minute not to put Rosalyn back in preschool like she was in last year. She loved going and it was great for her but she started asking to learn to read and do more so I decided to keep her home and work with her. It's a bigger commitment than I thought it would be but it's been fun. These are pictures from the first day.

The girls holding their name cards. I've tried making it as much like a preschool as possible.

Fun snack time - ice cream with pretzels and m&m's

Rosalyn's 5th Birthday Party

Rosalyn had a Strawberry Shortcake Party and each child wore their favorite dress up clothes. She loves to dress up so I thought this was a great idea for her! At the party, the kids enjoyed playing "Put the jewel on Strawberry Shortcakes Crown", finding strawberries that were hidden in the den, playing in a castle, and running around like crazy kids!! Rosalyn decided about a week before the party that she was going to color strawberries and cut them out and decorate with them. So when you see coloring sheets on the wall, that's Rosalyn's doing! She is very creative.

Happy Birthday Rosalyn!!!

It is so hard to believe that Rosalyn is 5 years old! What a special day it is to celebrate her life. She woke up to streamers in the doorway, which I do for the kids on their birthdays. Because her birthday was on a Wednesday, we waited to have her party til Friday. Nate and I took her out to Primos for lunch and she opened her presents there. (Unfortunately, I forgot the camera.) We got her a bible and a bean bag toss game. She was so proud to have a "big girl" bible!